Ask Your MOTHER
by SmashBro37
Summary: Lucas arrives at the fourth Super Smash Brothers tournament just in time only to find his first match is against the infamous and undefeated newcomer, Bayonetta. His bad luck will face him off against the Umbra Witch as well as freaky aliens, legendary warriors, fearsome monsters, almighty gods, and worst of all, his own nightmares... (A retelling of Smash 4 focused on Lucas.)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Ask Your Mother

(Author's Note: This is my interpretation of what happens when Bayonetta uses a certain infamous taunt on Lucas. Due to the nature of the plot, beware major spoilers for both MOTHER 3 and Bayonetta 1 and 2! Also, I prefer staying true to the games they're from more than sticking with just their Smash Bros movesets, so they'll be using some powers from their games that didn't make it to Smash Bros in addition to their usual moves. Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and please leave feedback!)

* * *

The fourth tournament of the Super Smash Brothers was well underway, and a large audience consisting of some of the other Smash Bros as well as many Miis (three of which were also fighters) eagerly awaited the upcoming match. The rules for the battle were simple enough: It was one on one, and the first combatant to knock their foe out of bounds would win. If time ran out, they would enter "Sudden Death", which severely wounded both combatants so that one blow would settle it. This time, it would be a fight for glory with no items or stage hazards. The stage was set to Umbra Clock Tower: the broken top of a clock tower that was knocked off of the rest of the building, and now fell through an endless abyss and occasionally went near other platforms. The participants were just about to arrive...

A blue portal suddenly appeared in the air of the stage, crackling with electricity from the rift it made in the fabric of space. A teenage boy was sent flying out of it, sliding across the ground and leaving a trail of flames from the sheer static discharge. He wiped some soot off his striped yellow and red shirt and his short, blonde hair which had a noticeable cowlick. He had a nervous look in his blue eyes as he prepared for battle, wielding a wooden stick as his weapon of choice. He also used a power called PSI that made a yellow glow from his left hand's index and middle fingers as he pointed ahead, trying to stay focused.

"LUCAS!"

A deep voice boomed across the battlefield and spectator stands, inexplicably coming from a large, gloved and floating hand which was not connected to any other body parts let alone a mouth. He was known as Master Hand, for he was the master of this World of Trophies and...he was also a hand.

"VERSUS..."

At the same time, a swarm of bats gathered together and shape-shifted into the Umbra Witch herself: A tall and beautiful dark-haired woman who wore glasses and an outfit that could only be described as...questionable. She had a look of confidence and composure, certain she'd win this battle just as easily as the last one against the angel named Pit. After all, how difficult could fighting a teenager be for a woman who had slain gods?

"BAYONETTA!"

Meanwhile, Master Hand started counting down with his fingers as Lucas prepared for battle, trying to calm his nerves. Bayonetta had been able to easily beat the angel named Pit with her dark magic and devastating combo attacks which sent Pit flying to the sky, and not in the way he wanted. However, that didn't mean she was unstoppable. He remembered some advice Red gave him back when they fought an enemy that seemed too strong to beat...

* * *

After defeating Wario, Lucas and Red had explored the ruins nearby. They managed to catch Red's Ivysaur and Charizard in the process, and now they had finally reached the center of the ruins. They found themselves in a vast and empty room with a ceiling far above them, and no apparent way to get up there. Had they gotten lost? Was this a dead end? Would they ever find Ness's trophy? All these questions were cut short as that ceiling suddenly caved in.

CRASH

Both of them looked up as a shower of debris came crashing down to crush them, along with some giant object that had made the ceiling collapse with its immense weight. Lucas desperately used PSI Shield Omega as Red's Charizard shielded the Pokemon Trainer with his wings, while Squirtle and Ivysaur used jets of water and a vine whip respectively to knock and pull the debris away. At the same time, the huge impact of the largest object shook the ground and knocked them back on their rear ends. Within the cloud of dust that emerged, a pair of glowing eyes glared at them ominously...

They were the eyes of a giant, monkey-like robot armed with rocket launchers on its shoulders. Steam hissed from vents as it slammed its left palm to shake the ground in anger, looking up at the sky for a moment before looking back, deciding to take its anger out on them instead. Lucas shuddered in fear of the enemy that made even Porky's spider mech look small. Just how were they going to fight that..? Red seemed to sense Lucas's fear and surprisingly, he spoke up for once.

"Lucas, don't panic: if there's one thing I've learned as a Trainer, it's that everything has a weakness. Just calm down and help me find it, and I know we'll win!"

Red then got up from the ground, pointing one of his Pokeballs at the giant robot with the same stoic look as always. It gave Lucas the courage to get up too, focusing the glow of PK Love into his left hand as he prepared to fight yet another killer robot...he really hated robots.

"Y-yeah, we can do this..! Let's turn this robot to scrap metal!"

Then the mechanical monstrosity that R.O.B later told them was aptly named the "Giant ALLoy Extreme Ordnance Machine" (Galleom) roared in anger, swinging its fists down in an earth-shaking impact as Lucas and all three of Red's Pokemon jumped into action...

* * *

"GO!"

Master Hand snapped his fingers and snapped Lucas out of his memory, officially starting the match. Bayonetta started by taunting him, twirling her guns and looking away, then looking at him again, causing her glasses to glow purple.

"Let's dance, boy!"

Lucas ignored the taunt, trying to stay focused on the fight at hand. He remembered Red's advice, knowing that he might have a chance even against the one feared as the strongest newcomer if he could keep his cool and figure out what she was weak to. It was too bad his dog Boney wasn't here, since he was always good at sniffing out weaknesses...

Bayonetta didn't do anything just yet, waiting for Lucas to make the first move. So he did. Lucas ran in and quickly closed the distance, jumping into range before using a move he learned from Kumatora. "PK Fire!" He launched a bolt of fire from his hands that exploded on contact, knocking Bayonetta backwards a short distance. It didn't faze her much, and she showed off her acrobatic skills by flipping in midair and doing a handstand, using that to rapidly fire all four guns at once. The bullets didn't hurt a lot, and in this world no one could bleed, but even so it'd slowly rack up damage if he kept getting hit. So as Bayonetta shot another volley of bullets, Lucas created a blue forcefield from his left hand that somehow absorbed the bullets: It was PSI Magnet, a move that let him drain the energy of other people or even energy blasts they fired. Bayonetta stopped shooting after that, but the real danger wasn't from her guns...

Next she closed the distance with a quick sliding kick (called the Heel Slide) to try to trip up Lucas, who quickly rolled back to dodge it, fearing being caught up in her deadly combos. However, Bayonetta saw it coming and raised her foot next, which caused a dark portal to appear above Lucas. Remembering the demonic limbs she'd summoned against Pit, Lucas put his hands together near the ground as if he was pulling some invisible object from it, causing them to glow as a giant high-heeled foot made from Bayonetta's own hair came down from the portal and tried to squash him flat.

"Huwah!" Lucas pointed his hands skyward, unleashing large yellow and blue hexagon that clashed with the demonic foot, blasting it straight back to Purgatorio. It was his only original PSI attack: the power known as "PK Love", named after his favorite thing. Even though it was used for attacking, its strength still came from his compassionate heart.

For a moment, Bayonetta was surprised by the flash of light, but she was quick to take advantage of how Lucas's huge attack left him wide open. The witch's hands glowed with dark power as she grabbed Lucas, then kicked him up into the air, following up with a tornado-like jump called a Witch Twist that knocked him even further up. He narrowly escaped being hit by yet another Witch Twist thanks to his abnormal 'double jump', using PSI to telekinetically backflip through the air and away from the scary lady. She was quick to pursue him once more with a midair version of her Heel Slide (known as the Afterburner Kick), but this time Lucas used PSI Shield to block the hit enough for him to be mostly unharmed and escape the combo as he landed.

"PK Freeze!" Lucas tried making use of the distance between them, sending an icy projectile that traveled in an arc towards Bayonetta. This move was also one he'd learned from Kumatora, good for putting enemies on ice…literally.

Bayonetta was able to shield herself from the icy blast as it detonated and froze the ground around her, but Lucas took that time to run in and suddenly take a rope-like snake (which was rather simply named Rope Snake) who he'd borrowed from his friend Duster out of his pocket, using him like a whip to make Rope Snake bite and grab onto her. Then, he swung Rope Snake and used PSI to telekinetically throw Bayonetta back behind him, making some distance between them. He didn't want to take any risks, remembering how quickly Pit had lost when he let his guard down out of fear of the angel-killing witch...She was definitely the most feared among the newcomers, and for good reason.

That was why Lucas stayed on the defensive, taking a moment to heal his wounds with PSI Lifeup. This caused some of the bruises on his body to glow, and then fade away completely. Honestly, other than his one original attack, PK Love, healing and defending was his true talent. Most of the other offensive moves he'd learned were thanks to Kumatora and Duster teaching him their deadly PSI powers and fancy kicks respectively...he smiled, grateful for his friends and everything they taught him.

Unfortunately, his mood went downhill when he saw a horde of creepy winged creatures flying in the distance. They reminded him of what Pit said while asking his goddess Palutena for guidance in his battle with Bayonetta.

"_But the angels Bayonetta fights aren't nice angels like me. They're monsters...right?!"_

They sure were. Most of the 'angels' looked only vaguely humanoid, having clawed hands and feet with only two spiky toes, wearing a red mask with a white 'eye' in the middle. Or was that their actual face..? Their body and wings looked more like metal than actual skin and feathers, and the shining halo above their heads only made the rest of them more disturbing in contrast. Their unnatural forms reminded him way too much of the monstrous Chimeras...

"See? That's why I hunt their kind: they're much too ugly not to put out of their misery! It doesn't help that the angels would love to send my soul down to bloody Inferno..."

Lucas didn't say anything, surprised that the witch wasn't as bad as he thought if she didn't have any choice but to fight these angels. They didn't seem to be 'nice angels' like Pit, and probably answered to a much less benevolent deity than the goddess Palutena who Pit was always talking about. Since he didn't respond, Bayonetta went on to ask a question:

"That was quite the light show you put on earlier. Tell me, just how did a cute little boy like you learn that trick?"

Lucas wasn't sure how to satisfy Bayonetta's curiosity. He didn't like talking much about his past to anyone other than his closest friends. Bringing it up to others would just make people feel bad and pity him, and he didn't want to burden anyone...

"You're a shy boy, arent you?"

He couldn't deny it. Lucas had always been quiet and kind of cowardly, unlike his twin Claus who was brave, strong, and outgoing. In other words, he was pretty much the Luigi of the two. Lucas met the 'Eternal Understudy' back in the Brawl days, since they had a mutual friend in Ness after what happened with King Dedede's revival badges in Subspace...it was a long story, but he found out they had a lot in common. They had twin brothers with the same brave and energetic personality almost the opposite of them, yet who they shared a close bond with anyways, and they both really loved their 'Mama Mia'. They even both had a lot of things they were scared of, like robots, monsters, ghosts...well, Lucas wasn't scared of ghosts, but maybe he would be if he had to clear an entire haunted mansion of them.

Bayonetta decided to tease Lucas a little more while he was still reminiscing those crazy days in Subspace. She taunted him again, twirling her guns and striking a fancy pose as she gave him a joking suggestion which she would soon regret.

"If you need to learn how to talk to a lady, ask your mum."

Lucas was shocked speechless for a moment. The boy started shaking, feeling like his heart had suddenly snapped in two.

_Mother?!_

Lucas wanted to cry. He was used to being called a crybaby or even a coward, since they were both true, but hearing someone joke about his mother made him just...snap. His voice was shaky, yet filled with anger as he finally stood up to the witch that dared talk about his mother like that.

"'Ask your mum'?! I'd like to ask my 'mum' a lot of things..."

Lucas clenched his fists, unable to hold back his tears anymore as he was reminded of the many things he wanted to 'ask his mum' about. He wanted to ask her how to talk to girls. He wanted to ask her if fighting was the right way to cope with his feelings. He wanted to ask her if she was proud of him...but most of all, he wanted to ask her what the place she went to was like, and if she was happy now.

"...but I CAN'T!"

A loud gasp could be heard from the audience, stunned by the revelation. Only a few had known before, but now everyone else did too, and there was no taking it back. Most in the audience pitied him, but among the other Smash Bros, there were many who could feel his pain, including Samus, Rosalina, Chrom, Lucina, Marth, Ike, Roy, Shulk, Bowser Jr...

"Oh."

...and ironically, Bayonetta herself. It made her hesitate enough to be caught off guard by Lucas who rushed at her, swinging his wooden stick horizontally at her like a baseball bat. She was too late to dodge and could only block the blow with her guns. But then the boy started glowing with an aura, somehow boosting his strength as he lashed out at her verbally and physically once again.

"Why don't YOU go ask her?!"

Using PSI Offense Up, he broke through Bayonetta's guard and sent her flying right into another platform. However she was quick to recover, somehow standing upside down on the underside of the platform, firing her guns once again.

"You've gone to heaven to fight angels, right?!"

Lucas didn't even try to dodge or block the bullets as he rushed at Bayonetta. They couldn't hurt nearly as much as her words anyways. He jumped towards her with a flying kick imbued with PSI, which Bayonetta stopped with her own kick, leaving them briefly suspended in midair as they clashed.

Then, Lucas pushed her leg away and spun in midair, surrounding himself with PK Love as he flew into the Umbra Witch, knocking her back and upwards. He continued to pursue her with the air by turning around and double jumping, using a midair backflip kick to send her crashing down to the ground. She managed to roll as she hit the ground, avoiding the usual vulnerability that way. Then as Lucas fell towards Bayonetta, he kicked downwards with both feet in rapid succession, but she was able to guard the kicks with her guns, deflecting them so he landed right next to her. Bayonetta struck back with another Heel Slide that pushed him across the stage, following up with a flipping kick that knocked him up into the air once more. The Umbra Witch tried to combo him with another Witch Twist after that, but found out painfully that he was able to recover fast enough to hit her first with another series of downward kicks, followed by a PK Love-infused forwards kick that knocked her to the other side of the stage.

Somehow, Bayonetta sprouted butterfly wings temporarily, allowing her to jump in midair and reach the ledge. She was reminded of how enemies in her adventures would get enraged when she taunted them, becoming faster and resistant to being stunned…it was because they were angry enough to ignore their pain, like this boy was doing right now. He was about to charge at her again, but stopped for a moment, distracted by a voice in his head that wasn't his own.

"_Lucas, calm down…she didn't know about your mom!"_

It was Ness, who had been his best friend in this crazy mixed up world ever since that fateful day when he saved him from the Pig King Statue and the greedy jerk Wario. He was talking to Lucas telepathically, doing everything he could to try to help him calm down. Most of the time, hearing his friend's voice would be enough, but not today.

"_I..I don't care!"_

Unfortunately, Bayonetta was starting to use Lucas's anger to her advantage, getting used to Lucas's constant attacks as he dashed towards her and attacked again with another blast of PK Love. She read his movements and dodged it by sidestepping, then hit Lucas with a barrage of pistol-whips while he was vulnerable to knock him upwards. Bayonetta then used her Wicked Weave to summon another demonic limb, hitting Lucas with a devastating uppercut.

Lucas cried out in pain, being seriously hurt now as he was sent flying up close to the out-of-bounds line. But he didn't feel fear, being too full of anger for that. He also knew Bayonetta wouldn't know about the trick he could use with his next move as he fell closer to the stage, since infamous or not, she was still a newcomer and hadn't seen him fight before.

"PK Thunder!"

Lucas's hands sparked with electricity as he created an orb of lightning and guided its path, sending it up, backwards, and around until it was right behind him as he faced Bayonetta. He intended to turn himself into a living lightning bolt, one that would be fired right at the witch who he nearly called a word that rhymed with witch.

"_Lucas, wait! She can slow..doowwnn...tiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmeeee...!"_

Ness's warning came too late, his voice slowing down along with everything else while Bayonetta flipped to the side just before Lucas could hit her like a missile. Lucas tried to get up and face her again, but lost his footing, having landed on the ground he froze earlier as time slowed down. Wasn't this what happened when you were about to die..?

WHAM

Lucas's face was greeted by another demonic fist that sent him flying across the stage. Bayonetta didn't stop there and somehow turned into a panther while time was slowed, chasing him to the other side of the stage as he was sent flying in slow motion. Lucas attacked again as soon as he could recover in midair, furiously sending another blast of PK Love with a kick, but it was too slow to hit Bayonetta during the slowed time. She evaded it at the last second by dispersing into a swarm of bats, making Witch Time activate while it was already active and amplify its effect. Time slowed almost to a stop for everyone except Bayonetta, leaving Lucas helpless in midair off the stage. Bayonetta raised her foot again to deal the finishing blow as Lucas's last tears were suspended in midair...

"I'm sorry for your loss."

She summoned a demonic foot, stomping Lucas with it in the near-frozen time. A moment later, time begun to move at its normal speed again, and Lucas was sent down into the blast zone where he disappeared in a pillar of light.

"GAME!"

It would be some time before Lucas woke up, as he had become a living statue, also known as a Trophy. Both he and Bayonetta were transported back to the Midair Stadium with a snap of Master Hand's fingers as the battle ended, and she was quick to turn Lucas back to normal by touching the base of his trophy. Lucas was surprised to see she offered her hand to help him up despite her past ruthlessness in battle, even having a look of guilt on her face. He didn't take it, too bitter to accept help as he got up on his own.

"The winner is...BAYONETTA!"

Normally, this was the time when the winner would do a pose while the loser clapped respectfully, but this time, no poses were made, and Lucas didn't bother clapping. He usually wasn't this much of a sore loser, but it wasn't the losing he was upset about. Then, Bayonetta talked to Lucas, but not loud enough for the distant audience to hear.

"Little one. I'm sorry for what I said about your mum. You might not believe me, but I know how you feel."

"Huh?!"

"I lost my mother too...and my father."

"T-that's awful…Sorry I yelled at you..."

Lucas wasn't sure what to do anymore. He couldn't be that angry at Bayonetta after hearing how she had gone through as much pain as him, having lost not one but two people close to her...Even so, he didn't feel much better either, since the memories she brought back weren't just going to go away.

"There's no need to apologize to me, little one. All I'll ask is that you don't blame yourself for what happened to your mother. I'm sure wherever she is now, she would want you to be happy..."

"..."

Lucas was surprised, feeling like she'd read his mind. How did she know he felt guilty..? He didn't know how to respond, and didn't want to talk about it anymore. Bayonetta seemed to realize that and made her exit, stepping through a dark portal to who knows where.

Lucas was quick to leave too, not wanting to deal with all the people watching who were probably going to ask him all about his past. He used PSI Teleport again, running faster and faster and then jumping into a portal that appeared once he gained enough speed, warping him away from the Midair Stadium.

* * *

Lucas reappeared in a familiar location, sliding to a stop after he emerged from the portal. He quickly put out the flames that caused with a miniature version of PK Freeze followed by PSI Lifeup, not wanting to burn any of the grass and especially not the sunflowers. That was because he'd landed in the vast grassy plains of the World of Trophies, specifically in an area where there were many sunflowers growing. He'd planted some of them himself back in the Brawl days, and now there were a lot more than before...he wasn't sure why, but it made the place look nicer. He had always preferred spending time outside in the beauty of nature rather than being indoors all the time, and sunflowers were his favorite flower...

They were also the flowers he left at his mother's grave. It didn't exist in the World of Trophies, so this sunflower field was the closest he had to it. It was a place he went sometimes when he missed his mother, and after that battle, now was definitely one of those times. He needed to vent a little.

"I thought you said anything can come true as long as we prayed from the bottom of our hearts?! It's not fair…I saved the world, so why couldn't I save you?!"

Lucas knew no one heard him, but it was something he felt like saying anyways. He remembered that fateful day when he pulled the final Needle, made his wish, and awakened the Dark Dragon that had been sleeping beneath the Nowhere Islands. The Dark Dragon was the will of the Earth itself, having the power to restore the entire world or destroy it depending on if the one who pulled it was good or evil, and yet somehow it couldn't (or wouldn't) bring back the dead like he wanted...it felt like some kind of sick joke.

For a while since that day, Lucas was devastated by everything that had happened, and that had carried on to when he got that strange letter in the mail. It was supposed to take him to a tournament, but instead he was thrown into a disastrous war against the forces of 'Subspace'. However, despite all the hardship and conflict that brought, he had met new friends in the process. Ness, another PSI user who had saved him more than a few times and helped him regain his courage, quickly became his best friend. Red, the cool Pokemon Trainer had taught him so much despite saying so little…he really missed Red.

"I even lost another friend…what's wrong with that stupid hand?!"

Lucas had no idea why only Red's strongest Pokemon, Charizard, had been invited this time. From his conversations with Charizard (one bonus of telepathy was talking to animals), he was relieved to know Red was still doing well back in his world, but he still missed him. It was just another reminder of how strange Master Hand was, as Lucas couldn't understand why Snake, Popo, and Nana (and Wolf, but he was kind of scary) hadn't been invited back either. According to Ness, this had happened between the Melee and Brawl tournaments too, and that time Pichu, Roy, Mewtwo, and the younger version of Link hadn't come back, although Mewtwo and Roy were back now for this unnamed fourth tournament. Even Lucas had only gotten an invitation at the last minute, as if Master Hand initially decided against his return and then changed his mind…it was kind of depressing. Maybe the mysterious floating hand was right to doubt him that much…

That depressing thought was suddenly interrupted when a portal appeared in the sky, out of which came none other than a boy Lucas's age wearing the same red baseball cap as always, who landed on a less grassy area before heading over to Lucas.

"Ness?! How'd you find me..?" He thought he'd be alone here, but somehow Ness had shown up as if he read his mind. It was just surprising he'd found him despite being in the middle of nowhere.

"You really thought you could hide from me? I was the one who taught you how to teleport, you dummy!" Ness had taught Lucas the PSI Teleport in the Brawl days in case they ever got separated again, and he knew one of the limitations is that you can only teleport somewhere you've been to before. This was one place Lucas had been to a lot…

"Haha, you know me too well..."

"Hey, Lucas...are you ok? I haven't seen you that angry since…since a while ago."

The angriest he'd ever seen Lucas had been when they fought Porky, whose mech had been inside the statue Ness blew up to save Lucas. Ness had been shocked when he heard from Lucas about the kind of things Porky had done after escaping to Lucas's era by time traveling, kidnapping Jeff's dad on his way out...Porky had never been a very nice kid, and had even teamed up with the almighty alien Giygas during Ness's adventure, but what he did in the Nowhere Islands was something Ness could only describe as...evil. He could hardly believe he was the same kid he'd once called a friend. He didn't want to bring up his name again, still wondering if there was something he could have done differently that would have stopped Porky from becoming such an awful person or at least stopped him from escaping to the future…Ness hadn't let Lucas know, but he had feared for a while that the horrible things his friend went through were indirectly all his fault…

"Sorry...I really messed up, didn't I? Now everyone knows about what happened to Mom, and I'm just making them feel bad and pity me..." Lucas hated the thought of burdening people with his problems, but he'd done just that to everyone by letting them all know what he'd kept a secret to most until now.

"Come on, don't blame yourself...She kind of had that coming, and it's not like you should have to keep your past a secret. If all they feel is pity, that's their problem! Plus, I've been in these tournaments since the start, so I know everyone pretty well. You're not the only one to lose someone like that...it's kind of sad, but I think they'll understand how you feel." There were more than just a few Smash Bros who had lost one or both of their parents, as disturbing as that was.

"You really think so..? People won't just think I'm a crybaby or a wimp?"

Lucas could think of at least a few Smash Bros who would probably think less of him for being a crybaby, like the other king of evil pigs, the kidnapper tyrant turtle, and of course, the most smelly and greedy jerk of them all. He didn't care much what those jerks thought about him, but he didn't like dealing with their bad attitudes either.

Ness just grinned, letting him know what he'd do about that. "Remember when I taught you how to play baseball?" Lucas nodded as Ness got out his baseball bat, remembering the Home Run Contest. Those were fun times…they'd even gotten the world record when they teamed up to send the Sandbag flying, although only briefly.

"If someone makes fun of you for crying, I'll teach them how to BE a baseball!" Ness pointed off into the horizon with his baseball bat like he did before a home run, demonstrating the painful fate any bullies would face.

"Hahahaha! You don't need to go that far, but thanks...you're a really good friend." Lucas hugged Ness, grateful for him always being there when he needed him. A moment later he let go, feeling a lot better than when he had first arrived here.

"Thanks, but so are you! Remember that time you saved me from Bowser?" At the time, Ness hadn't been doing too well in the last few battles, feeling down about Lucas not getting invited. He found himself about to lose after taking a few ridiculously strong hits from the Koopa King who was in better shape than ever, moving surprisingly fast for an oversized turtle. But then just as Bowser was about to finish Ness off with a huge drop kick, Lucas jumped in and blasted him away with PK Fire to save Ness.

"B-but that was against the rules! I made your match a "No Contest" by barging in like that!" Master Hand gave him a lecture afterwards, and Lucas was lucky to get away with only a warning since he wasn't a repeat troublemaker. On the other hand, the other Hand had started laughing like a maniac, enjoying the chaos...he really was crazy.

"So what? It was awesome! You really showed that turtle who's boss!"

"Hehe...I guess it was kind of fun, but I'm not doing that again..."

Even though he'd gotten in trouble, he couldn't deny it had felt pretty good to rescue Ness for once instead of the other way around. The fighting here wasn't so bad most of the time, with this duel against the witch having been an exception. Lucas wasn't that competitive unlike most Smash Bros, but in a way the fighting was how he coped with his feelings...He'd always felt guilty over how so many times he'd lost people he cared about because he hadn't been strong enough to stop what hurt them, or brave enough to not be paralyzed with fear. That was why fighting all these battles made him feel better, since it was his way of making sure he'd change for the better and not lose anyone else. They could even be kind of fun, at least when the stakes weren't so high like they had been in Subspace...

They didn't say anything for a little while as Lucas thought back to the battle. Even if he couldn't ask his mother anything anymore, he knew she would want him to be happy and keep moving forward. His friends had helped him remember how to smile again ever since the time of "Brawl", and he wasn't about to forget now. Lucas smiled once more, looking up to the fluffy clouds of this world's "Skyworld", wondering if the place his mom went to looked anything similar to it.

"Nice view, isn't it?"

"Yeah...it sure is."

"Wanna go up there and visit Pit? You know, he was cheering for you the whole time!" Not that it was much of a surprise with who he was up against.

"That sounds like fun, but I think I'll stay here a little longer..." As much as Lucas appreciated Ness's company, he'd gone here alone for a reason.

"...Okay! See you later!" Ness nodded and said his goodbyes, deciding to leave the area in style. Instead of going in a straight line like PSI Teleport Alpha, Ness's PSI Teleport Beta had the user run in a circle that gradually increased in size until they went fast enough to escape. It even created a bit of a whirlwind just before Ness teleported, which was why he nicknamed it "Tornado Teleport". _Showoff..._

With Ness's departure, Lucas was alone with his thoughts in the sunflower field once more, but in a better mood than before. He didn't ask his mother anything this time. Instead he had something to say, mostly as a reminder to himself.

"Don't worry, Mom...Even if you're not here, I'm going to keep doing my best!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Little Divine Intervention

(Author's Note: I was originally going to make this fic only one chapter, but since then I ended up with a lot more ideas than I started with, so the story will continue. This time there will be a few spoilers for Kid Icarus Uprising too, and some of the dialogue will be from the Palutena's Guidance conversations and the Palutena reveal trailer.)

Lucas stood alone in the sunflower field of the plains, looking up at the distant clouds. Spending time here brought back some sad memories, but in the end it made him feel better. He knew _they_ wouldn't want him to let what happened with Bayonetta keep him down...She hadn't meant to hurt him with what she said, and it turned out they had more in common than he thought. He just wished he hadn't ended up accidentally revealing some of his past with his reaction to that taunt, but he couldn't undo what had happened...

Lucas needed something to take his mind off of all this, and Ness's suggestion fit that perfectly. Going to Skyworld to visit Pit seemed like a lot of fun. That goofy angel always kept things interesting in one way or another. He just had to focus on his memory of the land of fluffy cloud islands, thinking about how the nice view he'd once had of it from on board the Battleship Halberd as he ran faster and faster to build up speed…Then Lucas activated PSI Teleport, jumping through a portal that warped him straight to the sky.

* * *

The view from up there was spectacular. He could see the entirety of 'Skyworld': A group of islands that inexplicably floated on clouds, with buildings that looked like they were from ancient Greece (not that he knew what that was). Two of the islands somehow had waterfalls that went down into the clouds below, but the one that stood out the most was the one with the large temple. On its roof was a giant statue of a woman with wings which were several times longer than she was tall…It was probably a statue of the goddess Pit always talked about. There were also many smaller islands and midair platforms for anyone who wanted to fight here. Overall, it was an amazing view…

The only problem was where he was viewing it from. Lucas was far above the islands, and was on track to fall through the sea of clouds to his doom.

"AAAAAAHHHH!"

Lucas screamed as he fell from miles and miles up, panicking as he wondered how it had gone so wrong. It was a long, long way down, so far that it made the time he and Red fell from Galleom's grip and even when he fell from the 100th floor elevator of the Empire Porky Building seem laughable in comparison. All he could do was telepathically call out for help, hoping someone would save him.

"_Someone, anyone, HEEEEEEELP!"_

"_Lucas?! What's going on?"_

"_I messed up the teleport somehow, and now I'm falling from the sky!"_

After a while more of falling, Lucas was able to calm down enough to stop screaming, since he was so far up that he had a long time to go before he became a stain on the ground. Thanks to that, he realized how exactly he'd ended up here. The reason PSI Teleport only worked for places you had been to before was because you had to mentally picture the destination. Since he had been thinking of the view of Skyworld from when he saw it while on the Halberd, that spot was nowhere near the actual islands…He felt more than a little dumb after this realization.

* * *

Back inside Palutena's Temple, Ness was quick to let Pit know after he heard Lucas's call for help.

"Pit, I need your help! Lucas is in trouble!"

"Really? What's the problem?"

"He tried to warp here like I did, but he kinda…missed."

Pit seemed a little confused, but someone else showed up to explain things for him. She was tall, with very long hair as green as her eyes. She wielded a fancy blue staff in her right hand, and had a circular blue shield strapped to her left arm. She wore a very decorated dress that looked straight out of Greek mythology, and it was a little revealing of her left leg. He'd heard Pit talk about the goddess Palutena in the last tournament, but seeing her in person was surreal. In other words, she was as gorgeous as you would expect from a goddess…The teenage Ness soon found himself staring.

And she had noticed.

"Just so you know, you're not the only one with the power of telepathy. So you'd better not be thinking about anything…naughty."

"W-what?! I-I'm not thinking of anything like that, I swear!"

Ness's face went as red as a tomato as he quickly looked away, desperately trying to use his PSI to stop any mind-reading attempts. Anyone listening into his mind would hear:

_"Don'tthinkanythingnaughtydon'tthinkanyt-CRAP-I'msorryPauladon'tthinkanythingnaugthydon'tthinkanythingnaughty-"_

Pit couldn't help but laugh, feeling a sense of déjà vu.

"Lady Palutena can't actually read minds, she's just messing with you! She did it to me once, too…"

"R-right…I knew that…"

"_Sure_ you did."

Palutena was amused by their reactions, reminded of why she enjoyed teasing Pit so much. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and she had to get back to business. With her 'all-seeing eye', Palutena quickly divined the location of the flustered boy's friend, who was now falling from the heavens and to his doom after an unfortunate misaimed teleport.

"It looks someone took a wrong turn on the hyperspace highway. You'd better catch Lucas before he crashes…He's too young for a teleporter's license, let alone teleporter's insurance."

"That _definitely_ isn't a thing."

Pit sarcastically responded to Palutena as he opened the door to leave the temple, not hesitating to jump right off the edge of the sky island. Luckily, Palutena's Power of Flight let the flightless angel soar into the sky instead of plummeting into the ground, his wings glowing blue as he flew quickly through the air. For some reason, he didn't have to flap his wings, but Ness figured the answer was probably "it's magic". Now with more distance between them, Palutena relied on her Power of Telepathy to speak to Pit instead of speaking normally, but Ness could still listen in with his own psychic powers.

"_If it isn't a thing, it should be. Don't you know that teleporter accidents are the leading cause of death for psychic teenagers? Perhaps I should give Lucas a course in Teleporter's Ed sometime…but I should probably finish teaching you how to read first."_

"_Hey! Maybe I would've learned how to read already if you weren't always sending me to fight monsters!"_

"_I could send the Centurions instead, but I think you know how that would end."_

_"I can't argue with that…" _

Pit sighed as he flew in Lucas's direction. The Centurions that made up most of Palutena's army and served under Pit were very loyal and numerous, but they were equally incompetent. The one time they'd helped him in his recent adventure was during the alien invasion, and even then they almost all died and nearly dropped his Forces of Nature-made platform which would have burned up in atmospheric reentry…it was a long story. The only time the Centurions felt powerful was ironically when they and even Palutena were temporarily Pit's enemies thanks to the Chaos Kin's mind control…that was also a long story.

Meanwhile, Ness couldn't do much to help since he lacked wings of his own, but he did go outside and let Lucas know help was on the way.

"_Don't worry, I sent Pit up there to catch you!"_

"_T-thanks, just hurry up! I'm running out of time!"_

As Palutena's power of flight guided Pit through the sky, he finally got close enough to see Lucas falling further and further down.

"_Ok, I see him up ahead! But wait, there's someone else up there…Who's that?"_

Pit saw another figure in the distance, but it was too far to tell who it was. All he could see was that it was a human riding some kind of oversized bird-like creature which he hadn't seen before. He knew there were several other fighters who could fly, but he couldn't recall any who rode a bird like that...It certainly didn't look like Charizard, and the Pokemon Trainer wasn't even in this tournament, so he couldn't be the one riding it.

"_Oh, don't worry about him. He's not going to fall, so just focus on saving Lucas."_

Ness joined in the telepathic conversation too, not having anything else to do. _"You'd better not miss!" _Even if they could only get turned to trophies here, he imagined it'd be more than a little painful to hit the ground from so far up. _"Geez, no pressure…" _Pit kept flying towards Lucas who fell more and more, now close enough to hear him screaming in panic. "Don't worry, I'll catch you!" He was closing the distance quickly, almost close enough to grab the falling teenager when suddenly…

Lucas was pulled out of the way by a chain that hooked onto his shirt, pulling him towards the previously unknown figure riding the red oversized bird. Now that he was this close, it was easy to tell who it was. Pit would recognize that face and those pointy ears anywhere…

"That was MY save, Link! Go find your own quests, like breaking pots or stealing stuff from chests!"

Ever since the misunderstanding that led to their first fight in the Subspace disaster, Pit was really tired of Link outdoing him in one way or another. Whether it was fighting skills, archery, or just looks, Link always seemed one step ahead, so it was no wonder Pit ended up treating him as a rival. The feeling wasn't mutual, but Link always being quiet and composed only bothered Pit more.

Link grunted in confusion and annoyance, unsure why the stranger (who somehow had wings) hated him so much when they had never met before. He also took some offense to being called a thief and vandal. Sure, he had looted more than a few chests in his quest, but only from dungeons filled with monsters, not innocent people. Besides, how would he even know that..?

Meanwhile, Lucas was a little dizzy from all the falling, but glad to be saved even if it wasn't Pit who did it. Link had let him ride the bird-like creature too after grabbing him with the Clawshot, with Lucas now sitting behind Link and holding on to him to avoid falling again. With his PSI, he managed to find out that the bird was called a Crimson Loftwing and served as Link's loyal companion who carried him through the skies. It reminded him of Boney and Red's Pokemon...

"Thanks, Link…I thought I was done for!"

Link looked even more confused now, surprised at everyone somehow knowing his name. It was also a little strange that everyone else's ears were so round and non-pointy…but the angel wasn't done confusing him yet.

"Remember when we first met? Back in the war with the Subspace Army, you and Yoshi killed that clone of Peach, but Mario and I thought she was the real deal. You could've explained it to us, but you just stayed quiet like always…I bet you _wanted_ to beat us up! Well, I want a rematch!"

Link had had enough with all of these strange questions, deciding it was his turn to get some answers. Link took a moment to think, considering a few options before deciding on what to say. He didn't talk a lot, but contrary to popular belief he was not mute.

"…Who are you?"

"So you _can_ talk…and you forgot about me already?"

Pit responded in an annoyed voice as Link landed at Palutena's temple, dropping off Lucas who thanked him again. "Sorry, I should've been more careful…" He was pretty embarrassed to have messed up so much that he had to be saved again, and now it seemed like there would even be a fight over it as Pit went into a speech telling the new Link who he was, unable to let go of his rivalry with the previous Link.

"If you don't remember, then I'll remind you! I am Pit, servant of the goddess Palutena! Defender of Skyworld! Slayer of monsters, evil gods, and freaky aliens! And now, I'll be the one to kick your butt!"

"…"

Link didn't say anything this time. Instead he just unsheathed his sword, silently accepting the challenge Pit gave. He had no idea what this angel had against him, but it didn't matter: He had come here to compete against fighters from other worlds anyways. Finding out if Skyloft was among these islands would have to wait until after this. Someone else, however, did say something.

"Freaky aliens..? So you fought aliens too?! Cool!"

"Yeah, they were called the Aurum. The day after I blew up the Lunar Sanctum, those weirdos flew in from space and started devouring everything! It got so bad that all the gods teamed up to take them down, but then the Chaos Kin showed up and turned me into a ring...it's kind of a long story."

Ness was surprised to hear Pit had fought aliens too, since he thought his world was more about magic and monsters and stuff like that. Just what kind of strange adventures had Pit been on since last time? And what the heck was the Lunar Sanctum? He'd have to ask for the details later. Right now he was looking forward to seeing whether Pit would finally win or get his butt kicked by Link yet again. After meeting many Links who were always strong no matter the timeline, his bets were on him, but anything could happen in a battle.

"Do you guys really have to fight over this..?"

Lucas didn't want to see them fight, feeling guilty that his mistake had re-awakened Pit's rivalry with Link. He only got a stare from Link, while Pit said "Of course we do!" Neither of them were going to back down now.

"It's on!"

Pit landed on the ground and fired a barrage of light arrows, starting the battle. Then as the angel and the hero began to fight, Palutena used telepathy to give Pit some guidance on this new version of Link.

"_He may have the same name and face, but this Link isn't the one you fought before. The previous Link was the Hero of Twilight, while this Link is the Hero of the Sky, also known as the original hero. In his legend, with the help of the Goddess Hylia who reincarnated as a mortal named Zelda, Link saved Skyloft, fought many monsters, and defeated the Demon King Demise. Then with the land at peace again, he and Zelda founded the original kingdom of Hyrule on the surface."_

As Palutena was talking, Link defended himself from the barrage of arrows, guarding some with his Hylian Shield and simply dodging the others with short jumps to the side. Whatever the shield was made of was something very special, since it wasn't even scratched.

"_So this Link lived on a floating island, got help from a goddess, and beat an evil god and his army of monsters? He's totally ripping off my style!"_

Link started a counterattack with his own projectile, grabbing a bomb from his inventory and throwing it at Pit as he ran closer to him. Then suddenly, someone else interrupted the telepathic conversation.

"_Puh-lease! Comparing Link to you is like comparing a star to a campfire!" _

Pit was knocked back by the explosion, too distracted by the voice that sounded like a little girl…it left Lucas and Ness more than a little confused. Then Pit responded as he got up from the ground, clearly familiar with whoever this was.

"_What?!" _

"_Just look at those chiseled features! His cheekbones could seriously cut glass."_

"_Uh, earth to Viridi!"_

"_Oh, I'm only kidding. The goddess of nature would never be interested in some hairless monkey!"_

Now Ness and Lucas no longer needed to ask who she was. Apparently Mother Nature was a little girl…Then Palutena joined in, making an offer to the 'not interested' goddess of nature.

"_Oh, humans aren't all that bad. I could introduce you to him if you'd like."_

"_Hmph. If you insist."_ Apparently she was _that _type of girl who was always stubborn and couldn't just be honest about her feelings...The anime cliche type.

Then Palutena went back to giving Pit some advice about Link, followed by Viridi doing the same.

"_Back to the fight at hand: Pit, you can reflect Link's projectile attacks with your Guardian Orbitars."_

"_Just watch out for his dreamy Clawshot!"_

On cue, Link fired said chain projectile at Pit, confused at why the angel just stood there instead of attacking. He dodged it just in time, rolling to the side as the claw nearly grabbed his tunic. Then he backed out of range of the Clawshot and fired a charged shot from his bow, trying to keep his distance while Ness gave some advice too.

"_Don't forget his boomerang, it always comes back!"_

"_You don't need to remind me…"_

Then Pit asked Palutena a question about what she said earlier.

"_You said he was the 'original hero', right? He doesn't seem so original to me, not when there's so many other Links with the same name and stupid face…"_

Pit was more than a little envious of Link, and one reason was his unfairly good looks. Even the sailor Link was just really cute instead. As he said that, Link guarded the charged arrow with his shield, then swapped his sword and shield for a bow. Pit wasn't the only archer here.

"_Feeling a little insecure? Actually, this Link is the most original of them all. Every other Link is a reincarnation of him."_

"_What?! But how?"_ Pit knew about reincarnation after hearing how much Hades messed with souls in the Underworld, but it wasn't normal for the same soul to reincarnate looking so similar and even having the same name and personality.

Link fired an arrow as Pit spoke telepathically, but this time Pit was prepared. He summoned two shield-like objects, one in front of him and the other behind: his Guardian Orbitars. They reflected the arrow right back at Link, catching him off guard and hitting him. No one bled in this world, but he was at least a little hurt by it.

"_In his dying moments, Demise inflicted a terrible curse Link and Zelda. He doomed the reincarnations of Link and the descendants of Link and Zelda's royal bloodline, forcing them to forever fight against an incarnation of Demise's eternal hatred."_

Link closed the distance, swapping his bow for yet another weapon: a strange-looking whip with a blue glow at the end. He swung it as Pit tried to defend with the Guardian Orbitars, and somehow it stuck to it. Then with that leverage, he flung the front Orbitar far away, robbing Pit of one of his weapons. At the same time, Pit realized something.

"_So THAT's why there are so many Links and Zeldas always fighting Ganon…it all makes sense now!_

_Wait…descendants? Bloodline?"_

There was a moment of silence as Pit realized what that meant, his face going red as his jealousy was amplified tenfold.

"LINK MARRIED A GODDESS?!"

Pit had accidentally blurted it out loud, which Link unfortunately heard, causing him to hesitate and stop his dashing sword slash. Link was at first confused, then surprised, and then embarrassed as he blushed profusely. Clearly, this was not something he was meant to know…

"_Pit, you shouldn't say that out loud…Hyrule's timelines are strange enough already."_

"Oops. Spoiler alert!"

Pit didn't care and happily took advantage of Link letting his guard down, equipping his Upperdash Arm to send Link flying with a fiery uppercut. Then he fired numerous arrows at the Hylian, but Link managed to somehow glide in midair and dodge most of the arrows by using a cloth he pulled out as a makeshift parachute. He then dropped from the sky and stabbed downwards, trying to hit Pit as he fell.

"Missed me!"

Pit split his bow into two blades as Link's sword got stuck in the ground, dodging around Link's falling stab before counterattacking with a dashing slash. It knocked Link backwards and away from his sword, but he quickly retrieved his weapon using his whip. He pulled it from the ground, sending it upwards where he jumped to catch it in midair and slash forwards twice as he fell.

"_Showoff…"_

Pit deflected the slashes to the side, then counterattacked by slashing with both bow-swords in a scissor-like motion. Link blocked one with his Master Sword and the other with his Hylian Shield, trying to stay calm despite the shocking claim he'd heard and didn't know whether to think of. He definitely had to win now so he could get some answers once this was over…

"_This fighter from Hyrule is quite impressive indeed…for a mere mortal."_

Pit attacked again, slashing in an 'x' shape with both blades as Link swung his own sword with both hands. The attacks clashed and canceled each other out, and then Pit tried to follow up with a horizontal slash of his right blade only to have it clang against the Hylian Shield again. Link tried bashing Pit with the shield in his right hand, but the attack was stopped by a cut from Pit's left bow-blade.

"Nice try, but you're nothing compared to the Underworld Army!"

_"You're right, Pit: the Underworld Army is nothing compared to_ _Link!"_

Pit mocked Link after blocking the attack, hopping back slightly as he re-fused his bow. Then he spun it rapidly behind him before slashing at Link again rapidly. Pit's bow-blade clanked against Link's shield three more times as the Hylian raised his sword behind him and up into the air, which reflected the sunlight and suddenly glowed blue. Link grunted as he swung vertically at Pit, who jumped backwards and away from the slash...only to get hit by the beam it somehow fired, knocking him back even further.

"_Be careful, Pit. When Link raises his sword, it is empowered by the Goddess Hylia, allowing him to fire a powerful beam called a Skyward Strike."_

"_He relies on his goddess for help? That's so lame!"_

"_Ahahaha! You're one to talk, Pit!"_

Now near the edge of the island, Pit's wings glowed with the Power of Flight as he flew into the sky. In response, Link sheathed his sword and used his bow to bombard Pit with a volley of arrows. However, Pit's swiftness in the air let him dodge all of them before firing back with some light arrows of his own.

Link sidestepped and jumped to avoid the arrows, equipping a new weapon as he rolled away from the last one. Realizing he was at a disadvantage against an airborne Pit, Link tried to even the odds by firing the new weapon, which sent out a claw attached to a chain which hooked onto Pit's leg. Link was using it to pull him out of the sky, reeling in the flightless angel like a fish out of water. Pit grunted as he struggled against the chain's grip, but he couldn't overpower it and was soon going to be dragged painfully into the floor.

"_I _told _you to watch out for that Clawshot!"_

"_I AM watching out for it!"_

Pit was about to slam into the ground when he used his twin blades to cut through the chain just in time, allowing him to at least land on his feet. As often as he got mocked by the gods, he wasn't going to let it happen against Link of all people.

Link remained silent, but his expression was clearly annoyed as he charged at Pit once more, knowing he couldn't let him fly away now that his Clawshot was broken. He slashed and stabbed at Pit, who dodged by stepping back and then to the side, and deflected Link's next slash upwards with his bow-blades. In response, Link grunted as he used a devastating spin attack.

"HEYAH!"

Knowing he couldn't block this one, Pit barely avoided it with a backflip, going over Link's head and landing behind him. But the hero just wouldn't let up, attacking again and locking blades with Pit…

This turned out to be a fatal mistake for the angel, since he couldn't match Link's strength and was being pushed back. While Pit's blades were busy stopping the Master Sword, it left him defenseless against Link's kick which sent him flying, causing him to skid across the ground painfully. "Ahh!" Link showed no mercy on the one who picked a fight with him for seemingly no reason, taking a bomb from his inventory and throwing it right as Pit tried to get up. The angel winced in anticipation of the explosion, trying to at least shield his face with his arm…

Only for it to be reflected right back at Link.

"Huh...? Lady Palutena?"

A Reflect barrier had saved Pit at the the last second, disappearing to reveal Palutena who stood in front of Pit. She must have warped there just in time to save him…

"Oh, I'm not here to _save_ you, Pit."

Palutena's staff glowed as she activated the Power of Flight against Pit's wishes, making him fly away to where Lucas and Ness were spectating.

"I'm here for a little, um…divine intervention."

Link stood his ground and raised his sword again, making it glow blue as he prepared to fight. He didn't run even though his opponent (accurately) claimed to be a deity…Only a fool wouldn't be afraid, but Link did a very good job of not showing it. If that wasn't brave, Lucas wasn't sure what was. It wasn't very fair, though. Link had already fought Pit for a while, and it would be hard enough to fight Palutena even at his full strength. So...

"If you're gonna fight him instead of Pit, then I'd better heal him first!" Ness cast PSI Lifeup, and Lucas did too after seeing Ness do it, healing all of Link's injuries. It was only fair, but Lucas had been too shy to ask until Ness did it first. Thankfully, Palutena didn't object to this, since she didn't want it to be too easy either.

"Wait, you want to fight too, Lady Palutena?" Pit, who landed awkwardly next to Lucas and Ness after Palutena's Power of Flight dropped him from the air, was surprised to see Palutena step in like this. She warped back a short distance to dodge Link's dashing slash, then temporarily grew wings like the ones on her statue and used them to knock Link away as she spoke to Pit.

"_I'm no stranger to fighting. Have you forgotten that time we fought each other?"_

"_Well…Yeah, sure, but _that_ was when the Chaos Kin had you under mind control."_

"_Well, anything an angel can do, a goddess can do better. Perhaps you'd like to see some of the powers I've used to protect you?"_

And saw them he did. "Heavenly Light!"First Palutena surrounded herself with a pillar of light as Link ran back towards her, damaging him but not knocking him back.

"Explosive Flame!" A burst of fire exploded right next to Link, but when the smoke cleared he was completely unscathed and even managed to hit Palutena with two slashes followed by a stab, knocking her back. It was thanks to the Fireshield Earrings that had let him enter Eldin Volcano without becoming a human barbecue. Link then sent out his robotic Beetle that he somehow controlled remotely, trying to make it pick up Palutena and carry her off to the sky…

"Warp!" Palutena teleported out of its grip and reappeared behind Link. Just as he turned around, she used another power. "Rocket Jump!" Palutena launched herself up with an explosion that sent Link flying, following up by firing many balls of light from her staff. "Autoreticle!" She didn't even have to look at him as the attacks aimed themselves at Link automatically. "Lightweight!" As Link deflected the projectiles with his shield, Palutena suddenly gained a huge burst in speed and tried to overwhelm him at close range, swinging her staff in a circular motion in midair.

"HIYAH!" Link's swung his sword, clashing with Palutena's staff and putting them in a contest of strength. Fortunately, her Lightweight made it easier to win that contest and knock her back, and Link took advantage of that with yet another weapon of his: the Gust Bellows. It unleashed gale-force winds that easily pushed Palutena through the air and close to the edge of the stage...

"He has so many different weapons…that must be cheating, right?!" Pit was getting annoyed at how Link had a weapon for just about anything and could somehow carry them all at once, but Ness was quick to call out his hypocrisy.

"Are you kidding me?! Your goddess has like, a bazillion powers!" Palutena only proved his point more as the battle went on.

"Superspeed!" Palutena gained even more speed as she rushed at Link, overcoming the torrent of winds with a shield bash that knocked the Gust Bellows out of his hands. "Celestial Firework!" Many firework explosions carried Link up into the air, but he dropped a bomb at the same time, which led to the fireworks detonating it in a huge explosion that knocked both of them away from each other.

As the dust settled and both of them got up from the ground, Palutena had a more serious look. All these cuts, air blasts, and explosions had damaged her outfit a little, and her hair even got dirtied by the soot from the explosion. No one did that and got away with it…

"_I'm readying my Sacred Goddess Clobberlaser for deployment."_

"_You're using THAT?! Isn't that a little overkill?"_

"_Many worthy foes have gathered here…And I won't hold back on _anyone_."_ Especially not those who messed up her hair. If there was one trait all the gods shared, it was pettiness.

"Sacred Goddess Clobberwhat?" Ness asked, having no idea what they were talking about. Neither did Lucas, but he was too shy to ask. He was just worried for Link's safety with how scared Pit seemed to be of whatever this was...

"It's a giant laser that Lady Palutena sends down from the heavens. One time she used it to shoot down the Hewdraw in one shot!" Pit left out the fact that Palutena only attacked because Pit had taken too long to shoot down the Hewdraw himself.

"What's a Hewdraw?"

"It's a dragon, kind of like that 'Ridley' we fought in Subspace, but with three heads."

"I wasn't actually there to fight Ridley, you know…I was busy being a statue until I got revived by Dedede."

"Right…we really owe you guys. We would've been toast if no one got revived!" He still remembered that time when the evil Tabuu had wiped everyone out in one shot of his instant kill shockwave…that had been a close one.

"Thank Dedede; it was his idea. I didn't do much except get turned into a statue, haha!"

Then after being quiet for a while, Lucas spoke up. "B-but that was my fault, not yours! You were dodging everything until you had to save me…" Ness was not pleased with that response, though, as if he'd heard it before.

"Geez, for the hundredth time, it's not your fault! You were just afraid, and that stinky jerk took advantage of it. And you kicked his butt later, remember?"

"…"

While they had been talking, the battle of mortal against goddess raged on. Link was using every weapon he had against Palutena, but he was clearly getting tired. He was breathing more heavily, and was now covered in bruises while Palutena only had a few cuts and burns on her outfit now. It was enough to get her to take things seriously, though, which was pretty impressive considering she was a literal deity.

"Black Hole!"

Palutena used something Lucas and Ness didn't expect from a goddess of light, creating a dark vortex in the air that sucked in Link. Then she focused a bright light in her staff, preparing another attack-

"Megalaser!"

A powerful beam raced towards Link, which would be a guaranteed hit with the black hole trapping him in place...

At least it should have been, until he fired his Clawshot at one of the marble pillars of the temple, pulling himself to safety as the huge laser burned through the black hole.

"What?! I thought I broke that chain!"

"_It looks like Link has a second Clawshot. He truly is impressive for a mortal…"_

Palutena was impressed Link had managed to give her this much of a challenge…He was definitely worthy of the Triforce his world's gods had granted him.

"_But a mortal is no match for a goddess."_

Suddenly, Palutena began glowing with a multicolored aura: the aura of a Final Smash. Just before Link's Skyward Strike could hit her, the goddess of light jumped away, jumping in midair several times with her Sky Jump power until she levitated far in the sky above Link.

"_Ok, charging complete."_

A much larger version of Palutena's halo appeared below her facing downwards, glowing brighter and brighter as it gathered a huge amount of blue light, shining on the area it was targeting with Link in the center.

"Whoa…" Lucas and Ness watched in awe as the goddess prepared a Final Smash similar to the PK Starstorm but focused entirely into one blast. Their angel friend was more worried than impressed, and instead quickly grabbed Lucas and Ness while warning them.

"Don't just stand there, we have to get clear!" Pit pulled them along with him as he ran as far from Link as he could. The light in the sky increased in intensity until it was hard to look at…

"Palutena Glam Blaster…FIRE!"

"Wait, I thought it was a Clobberla-"

"YOOOOOOW!"

Pit screamed in panic as Palutena fired the Glam Blaster, sending a massive beam of light towards Link and the area around him. Link tried to stop it with his sword and shield, but not even the ground beneath him could endure the light which burned straight through the temple and continued downwards for a long distance, making a large hole in the clouds. Link soon fell through it, instantly turned to a trophy by the giant laser until his Loftwing caught him and flew away. Lucas, Pit, and Ness had barely avoided meeting the same fate as they stood just outside of the gaping hole Palutena's Glam Blaster put in the sky island…

There was a moment of silence as they witnessed the sheer devastation the goddess caused.

"Maybe I overdid it a little…"

"A little?! You almost obliterated us too! Just like last time!" Pit was not happy to yet again almost get killed by his own goddess. It was just like the last time she'd fired the "Sacred Goddess Clobberlaser" on the Hewdraw and nearly hit him in the process.

"That was a close one…But I have to say, that was awesome!"

Ness had seen a lot of Final Smashes, but this was one of if not the most destructive so far. He had a feeling Master Hand wouldn't be too happy about the damage he'd have to repair, but oh well.

On the other hand, Lucas had been terrified of the giant beam, still shaking in fear of the attack. He felt kind of bad for Link, too, since he'd only gotten into this fight by choosing to rescue Lucas, and now he'd become a victim of Palutena's divine retribution. Still, there was something else that surprised him more than how much damage Palutena did to her own temple…

"H-how'd you do that? You used your Final Smash…without a Smash Ball! I-isn't that impossible?"

Palutena answered Lucas's question with a smile as she warped back to the ground. She twirled her staff as she floated down, with her halo fading away now that the battle was over. It had felt good to get some exercise and fight by herself for once, and even have a challenge too.

"Maybe it would be impossible…for a mere mortal." She had been able to use the Glam Blaster just fine in her own world, so she didn't see any reason it would require a special item here.

"I guess that makes sense…You really are something, Lady Palutena."

Then, someone interrupted Pit.

"Could you _please_ stop being such a suck-up!"

Suddenly, another angel flew in from above and landed near Palutena. He looked a lot like Pit, so much that they were practically twins. The only differences were that his outfit, hair, and wings were all black, while his eyes were red in contrast to Pit's blue eyes. His wings also glowed green instead of blue when he was flying for some reason. It might have had something to do with how Viridi had been quiet for a while...

"Dark Pit. You just dropped in to crash my party?"

Pit's dark doppelganger smirked as he talked back to the goddess, clearly not looking up to her like Pit did. The camera zoomed in on his face as he spoke up…

"Uh-huh."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Mother Nature

A new challenger was approaching, flying in from the sky with wings that glowed green. It was an angel who looked just like Pit but with a darker and scarier look, and he was appropriately named "Dark Pit". He was also known as…

"Hey! It's Pittoo!"

"Will you quit calling me that?" Pit's dark doppelganger didn't approve of that name, but it reminded Lucas of something. He didn't get the chance to ask about it yet, not wanting to be rude.

"Now where did you disappear to after the fight with Hades?" Dark Pit hadn't shown up since Hades' defeat, only reuniting with them now that they were all invited to the world of Smash. Pit assumed he was just off being a loner as usual, but Viridi soon proved him wrong.

"Actually, Dark Pit works for me now. He's an officer in the Forces of Nature."

"What?! No way!" Pit was surprised, knowing it wasn't like Pittoo to be loyal to anyone but himself. So why was he siding with Viridi now..?

"Just because we fought together once doesn't mean we're all buddy-buddy now. In fact, the Lightning Chariot and Phosphora are also both under my command. The battle isn't over yet!"

"Viridi's interests and mine just happen to overlap, so for this fight, I'll be happy to launch you into the stratosphere!"

"Your powers are perfectly matched here."

"It all comes down to skill!"

As Viridi said that, the two angels split their bows into swords and prepared for the long-awaited rematch. But before they could settle which of them was the 'faker', they received a torrent of questions from the psychic boys who had no idea what all this was about. The first was from Lucas, who was reminded of one of the most famous Pokemon in Red's Pokedex. The rest were from Ness, who couldn't hold back his curiosity over all this.

"Wait, his name's 'Pittwo'?! Does that mean he's a clone like Mewtwo?"

"Who's Hades? Aren't the forces of nature things like tornados and earthquakes? And what's the Lightning Chariot? It sounds really cool! And who's Phosph-"

"Could you shut up for one second?!" Dark Pit was sick of the barrage of questions, but Palutena helped answer at least one of them.

"You're not far off with that guess, but his nickname has a 'too' like 'you too', not the number 2. Dark Pit is a clone of Pit, but unlike Mewtwo he was made by magic, not science. He was created when Pit destroyed Pandora's Mirror of Truth, which reflected the darker half of Pit's self. Just like Mewtwo, Dark Pit rebelled against his creators and fought both Pandora and Pit. You could say that he's Pit's evil twin, but he's nicer than he would admit."

Lucas was left in a stunned silence, for some reason very affected by what she said. Dark Pit was intrigued to hear there was someone so similar to him, and he remembered 'Mewtwo' was one of the returning fighters for this tournament. "Sounds like we have a lot in common…Maybe I'll pay this 'Mewtwo' guy a visit once I'm done wiping the floor with you." He sounded like someone Dark Pit might get along with if he'd turned against his creators too, refusing to be a pawn in their game.

Viridi spoke up next, glad to explain what her Forces of Nature were.

"The Forces of Nature are the loyal armies of me, the goddess of nature. Their duty is to defend the world from ALL threats…and with Hades gone, humanity is at the top of the list!"

"What?! But I'm a human too…We're not the bad guys!" Ness responded in surprise, having no idea why Viridi hated humans like him so much.

"I know, right? That's why I've got to stop the Forces of Nature, and if Pittoo's going to side with them, then I'll have to fight him too!" Pit agreed, knowing even with their flaws, attacking humans wasn't the answer.

"Then bring it on, Pit-stain!" Dark Pit smirked and prepared for battle again, charging towards Pit who did the same…

"STOP IT!"

Until Lucas got in between them, holding his hands out to the side as he tried to stop them from fighting.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Dark Pit responded in annoyance, tired of his fight being interrupted.

"Thanks, but I can take him on my own!" Pit was surprised too, but also a little relieved, since he was still tired after fighting Link which didn't put him in good shape to take on Pittoo now.

"You're like Pit's twin brother, right? B-brothers shouldn't fight…Ever!" For some reason, this topic was very emotional for Lucas, making him determined to not let the two Pits duel. But it wasn't enough to convince Dark Pit, who only got more frustrated.

"We're _not_ brothers, and you're not the boss of me. Either get out of my way, or try to stop me!"

Dark Pit dashed towards Pit and readied both bow-swords as he went around Lucas, then slashed diagonally with both swords-

CLANG

Until Lucas really did try to stop him, swinging his wooden stick which clashed with the bow-blades, leading to a struggle where they each tried to push the other back. Dark Pit was a little annoyed at not getting to fight Pit like he wanted, but also smirked when he saw Lucas actually stand up to him.

"Hmph! I guess you're not a coward after all, only a crybaby. Then you can fight me in Pit's place!"

Ness then tried reassuring Lucas. "You can do it, Lucas! I fought the dark side of my brain once, and I learned something important: The light always conquers the Dark Ness!" Pit burst into laughter, unable to resist the joke. "Aww yeah!" Even Palutena looked a little amused, but Viridi was not.

"_Very_ funny…your jokes are just as bad as Pit's! I shouldn't have expected any better from a stupid human…" At the same time, Lucas and Dark Pit's sword clash ended up pushing them both back, and Dark Pit made a comment of his own.

"I think light is overrated. You and Palutena say you protect humanity, but you do nothing to stop them from killing each other. How is that helping them?"

Lucas shot a bolt of PK Fire at Dark Pit, who dodged to the side before performing a dashing attack, which Lucas guarded against with a PSI Shield, being pushed back slightly as Palutena responded.

"It wouldn't be right for us to always interfere in human conflicts…Our duty as gods is to offer them protection and guidance, not control everything they do."

Then Lucas used his own dashing attack, aiming his palm forward and firing a blast of PK Love that Pittoo blocked by spinning his bow rapidly, using it as a sort of shield. Then he tried to grab Lucas, pummeling him a few times with his knee until he managed to escape thanks to Rope Snake suddenly biting Dark Pit's hand. This left him open to another yellow hexagon of PK Love that Lucas sent by swiping with his arm, knocking Dark Pit back slightly as he talked back to the goddess.

"You let them destroy themselves and their environment and call it benevolence, but I call it laziness. You'll only do something if it makes people worship you more!"

Dark Pit jumped towards Lucas and attacked from the air, slashing downwards with his swords. Lucas blocked it with his wooden stick, the force of the blow making him bend his knees as he tried to stay on his feet. Using PSI Offense Up, he gained a sudden burst of strength that let him push the slash back into the air, causing Dark Pit to fly and switch to attacking from a distance.

"I would much rather be called lazy than tyrannical. Don't forget what happened while I was under the Chaos Kin's control: With Skyworld's forces turned against them instead of protecting them, the human nations were devastated by war. I've done everything I could since then to earn their forgiveness, and with Hades and the Underworld Army defeated, they finally have a chance at peace. No one is perfect, not even us gods…But I think we all deserve a chance to rebuild and make up for our past mistakes."

Viridi wasn't very convinced by Palutena's speech. "You make that sound sooo sweet, but just you wait: I know those stupid, hairless monkeys will go back to their old ways before long. It's practically in their DNA!"

Meanwhile, Dark Pit unleashed a barrage of dark arrows at Lucas, making use of his air superiority. Normally, this wouldn't be much of a problem, but something about those black arrows looked…familiar. Lucas froze up for a bit, getting hit by a lot of the arrows before he snapped out of it and put up his PSI Shield, then jumped and rolled behind a marble pillar to avoid the rest of the barrage, healing himself afterwards. Ness was quick to realize what the problem was.

"_Don't worry, they're not like _those _arrows…You won't die in one hit, or else you would've lost already!"_

"_I know…I just don't like the reminder…" _They looked way too similar to the shots fired by the "Dark Cannon" weapons Tabuu provided to the villainous Smash Bros he had fooled into working for him…The same weapon that had turned Ness into a trophy.

Dark Pit split his bow and gestured with one blade in a taunting motion while resting the other on his shoulder, saying "Come at me!". It worked, getting Lucas to stop hiding behind the pillar and attack with a jumping kick that sent out another hexagon. Pittoo ducked under it, then counterattacked by spinning his bow horizontally to cut at Lucas. However, the psychic boy managed to stop it with his wooden stick, which was somehow able to not be cut by a metal weapon.

"_How does _that _count as a weapon?" _Dark Pit was understandably confused at how Lucas's 'weapon' was just as effective as his, asking Viridi with their telepathic link in the same way Pit did with Palutena.

"_Don't underestimate the toughness of trees! Besides, that isn't an ordinary wooden stick: It's a special weapon called the Mystical Stick that Lucas used to fight the evil Pigmask Army and their creepy robots. Apparently it amplifies his psychic powers, and he can use telepathy to talk to animals…He'd be a perfect fit for the Forces of Nature!"_

Meanwhile, the two fighters were exchanging a rapid series of blows with their weapons, with Dark Pit starting to get the upper hand. Lucas had some experience with sword fights, but he wasn't used to fighting dual wielders, which got him cut a few times more than Pittoo got hit by him.

"_You can't be serious…He's a human too! Do you really expect him to fight his own kind?"_

Just then, Dark Pit refused his bow again and deflected one of Lucas's swings upwards, using the opportunity to summon another weapon on his right arm. "Electroshock!" He hit Lucas with an uppercut that felt like being punched by a lightning bolt, sending him crashing into one of the marble pillars near the temple. He quickly grabbed the ledge with Rope Snake, flinging himself upwards just as Dark Pit cut the spot he was a moment ago and severed the top of the pillar, causing it to slide off and fall to the ground. Lucas backflipped through the air, then while in midair used his Mystical Stick to hit several pieces of debris from the pillar, sending them flying at Dark Pit. He managed to reflect two back at Lucas with his Guardian Orbitars, but the third was at too high of an angle and hit him in the face, while the reflected debris knocked Lucas onto the rooftop of the temple.

"_Lucas has been through a lot…Things you couldn't imagine. If there's anyone who knows how cruel humans are, it's him!"_

"_Don't expect me to go easy on him just because he had a hard life. I'm not a softie like Pit."_

Lucas got up from the ground and started healing his injuries with PSI Lifeup, having actually overheard the telepathic conversation with his own PSI powers. He only went unnoticed thanks to not speaking up until now.

"_Um…How do you know so much about me…?"_

"_He can hear us?! I should have known…And of course I know about your world; I'm a goddess! Anything Palutena can do, I can do better, including her 'all seeing eye'!"_

At the same time, Dark Pit flew up to the rooftop with Viridi's power of flight, bombarding Lucas with even more arrows. He managed to dodge most of them by rolling to the side, jumping in the air, then using his PSI to jump again and backflip onto the highest level of the temple's roof. He ended up landing right next to the giant Palutena statue.

"_Sorry, but I can't join your army…Humans aren't as bad as you think, and I don't want to hurt anyone…" _Lucas couldn't deny that Viridi had a point, but that wasn't an excuse to judge all of humanity for what some of them did. He couldn't possibly turn against everyone like that…Even if he did, he knew his friends would stop him.

Lucas needed a way to get Pittoo out of the air, unable to attack him that well from down here. Then he remembered some advice he got from Red…Flying types were weak to Ice and Electric moves! "PK Thunder!" Lucas shot a ball of PK Thunder and guided it through the air, making it chase Dark Pit through the sky. He kept changing course to dodge it, only for it to attack from another angle, gradually luring him closer to Lucas…"PK Freeze!" Then it disappeared as a psychic blast of extreme cold exploded near Dark Pit, temporarily trapping him in an ice cube as he fell downwards. Just as he managed to break free, he got grabbed by Lucas's Rope Snake, which threw him into the ground. It was super effective!

"_Are you sure about that? Humans and their dirty technology corrupted everything about your peaceful village…They tore your family apart! How can you forgive them so easily?!" _Viridi was getting increasingly annoyed, reminded of the worst of humanity when she thought of what they'd done in Lucas's world.

Dark Pit caught Lucas by surprise as he got up from the ground and first knocked him slightly upwards with a sweeping kick, then dropped his weapon and hit Lucas with…a kick to the face! It was surprisingly more damaging than the swords, sending him flying upwards far enough that he landed right on top of the giant Palutena statue's staff. The absurdly powerful and fast kick reminded Lucas of Duster, but it reminded Pit of something else.

"Oof..that one had to hurt! It's the same kick he took out the Underworld Gatekeeper with!"

"And I thought I said face-kicking usually isn't that effective..." Palutena commented, amused to see it work so well again.

Lucas healed himself as he got up from the ground, feeling more and more tired. If this kept up he'd end up too tired to even heal, but Pittoo seemed pretty tired as well…one way or another, this battle wouldn't last much longer. Once he recovered, he found his answer to Viridi's question. He couldn't deny he felt bitterness towards all the cruel things people had done to him and others, but…

"_You're wrong about humans…The villagers only started acting mean when they were corrupted by all the propaganda to change their minds, and the animals were peaceful until they were turned into Chimeras. It wasn't their fault! Even the Mecha-Drago was only violent because the stupid machines were making it that way…It…it d-didn't want to hurt Mom! And Claus didn't want to hurt me!"_

Dark Pit had been flying far into the sky above Lucas at the time, but even from this far he could see Lucas's face. _"So you really are a crybaby…" _He had equipped a new weapon, this one being suited for long range attack. In fact, it was so suited for it that he could still attack despite now being practically a purple twinkle in the sky from Lucas's perspective. Of course, it all depended on Lucas taking the bait. It was time to end this.

"_Feel free to dodge and let me put a hole in that fancy statue. But if you're not a coward, then try surviving THIS!"_

He was charging up a maximum power shot with his Dark Pit Staff, making it shine like a purple star in the sky, which was now going though a beautiful sunset. The staff was a weapon type that inverted the normal rule of ranged attack, making damage increase over distance instead of decrease. It may not have been the Final Smash version, but at this immense distance and with Lucas this wounded, a direct hit would undoubtedly be an instant KO.

"…I-I'm not scared of you!" Lucas wiped his tears and stood his ground on the statue's staff, not willing to run away now. Even if it was a bad plan, this wasn't about winning anymore…it was about making a statement. Even now, Viridi continued to speak to him, making him doubt himself.

"_You know, that 'Dark Dragon' in your world is just like me: the guardian of the planet and the God of Nature. But he was so lazy that he was sleeping on the job…literally! If he had been awake to keep humans in check like I do, none of the tragedy you went through would have happened! All he did when you woke him up was undo the damage humanity did to the world, but there's no guarantee they won't do it again…That means they're _definitely _going to do it again! Because they're selfish, arrogant, greedy, vengeful, and so, so, cruel…THAT's human nature!"_

Lucas put his hands to the ground, touching the giant orb of the staff he was standing on as if he was pulling something out of it. There was only one way he could hope to survive right now…Whenever he had pulled a Needle in the past, something special happened. That something was what he was gambling on. Even though this was no Needle, he could still sense a powerful light within this giant staff…And he wasn't going to let Viridi have the last word. Lucas used PSI Offense Up Omega, glowing with a yellow aura as he poured every last bit of psychic power he had into his next attack…

"Game over, pal!" Dark Pit fired his staff at last, sending a thin beam of darkness that flew through the sky at monstrous speeds, crossing the enormous distance in just a moment. With Lucas refusing to dodge, his victory was certain.

"No, human nature isn't cruelty..!"

"_Really? Then what do YOU think it is?!"_

Lucas was quiet for just a moment until he seemed to pull something from the ground and raised his hands skyward, shouting his answer to Viridi.

"LOVE!"

And then it happened. Just like when he pulled the Needles, a pillar of light went up from the staff to the sky, on a direct collision course with Dark Pit's beam of darkness…

The result was surprising. The wider pillar of light swallowed up the dark beam, racing up at lightning speeds to greet the shocked Dark Pit. "WHAT THE FU-?!" His foul mouth was cut off as the light overcame him, turning him back to his trophy state…

At the same time, something else happened. Lucas smiled in relief, glad he had finally won…Only to find the dark beam bursting out of his end of the pillar of light, having pierced through the entire thing unseen due to its smaller size. He could only let out a brief yelp in panic as it pierced his chest and instantly KO'd him, knocking him off the statue as he ironically became a statue himself...

"LUCAS!"

"PITTOO!"

Both of them rushed to save the falling trophies, Pit soaring to the skies with the power of flight to catch Pittoo while Ness telekinetically jumped up to the statue, grabbing the base of Lucas's trophy as it fell from the giant staff. He levitated back to the ground gently, carrying Lucas as he regained his consciousness. Ness was grinning with excitement as Lucas came back to life, and just had to say something about the battle's ending.

"That! Was! AWESOME!"

Lucas just smiled, too tired to say much. He'd really put everything he had into that attack, enough that he could only walk after Ness gave him some much-needed healing. As he started to recover, Viridi had a few last words for him. She wasn't as angry as before, almost sounding sad this time...

"_I wish you were right…You know, I used to love humans too, and they loved me. It was so long ago that I almost forgot...But you know the saying about one bad apple poisoning the whole bunch? It's the same with humans too…You know who I'm talking about. Can you still say humans are naturally good when that ONE human ruined your life and everyone else's, when they did NOTHING to him to deserve it?!"_

"…"

Lucas's only answer was a stunned silence. He had no way to answer that…Could he really believe all humans were good by nature, when _he_ was a human too? He wished that guy was a monster, or a robot, or an alien, or anything else…But no. That one person who had ruined _everything_ was a human just like everyone else…He didn't want to think about it any longer.

Pit caught Pittoo in a similar manner, turning him back to normal. However, his evil twin wasn't too happy about being carried. "Let me go, I'm fine! I just can't believe that crybaby beat me…" He got out of Pit's grip, using Viridi's power to fly on his own. He hadn't seen Lucas get KO'd as well.

"Uh…your attack hit him too, so it was a tie."

"...Of course it was! I wouldn't lose that easily…"

"Hahaha! Losing isn't that big of a deal…I know you're Dark Me, but you need to _lighten_ up a little!"

"...Your jokes are terrible, and I think I've been 'lightened up' more than enough for one day." He was not in good shape after that giant laser. Not that his opponent fared any better. As they flew back down to the temple, an idea struck Pit's mind like lightning for how to fix all these injuries…

"You both look exhausted…Do you know what that means?!" Pit was practically bursting with anticipation as he waited for them to respond…

"Uh…it means we need some rest?" Lucas asked, unsure what Pit was getting at. Dark Pit, however, knew exactly what was coming next.

"It means you need a HOT SPRING!"

"There's a hot spring here? I love hot springs! They're so relaxing, it's like they heal your body and soul completely!" It turned out Pit was not the only hot spring fan, as Lucas and his friends had visited many hot springs in their adventure, and they had always been able to fully heal them both physically and mentally. He was glad to have something to take his mind off of all the serious talk from earlier…

"I know, right?!" Pit was glad to finally meet a fellow hot spring fan. Ness wasn't quite as enthusiastic since there weren't many hot springs in Eagleland, but if they liked it that much, it was probably pretty good. Even Dark Pit decided to join in, although he said it was only to heal his wounds. He didn't want to admit to liking the same thing as Pit...

Palutena spoke up next, happy to show them where the hot springs in Skyworld were.

"I have to say, that fight was spectacular! You both deserve some rest after all that…Just please don't try to damage my statue in the future, Dark Pit."

"Says the goddess who blew a hole in her own island out of boredom."

"Touché. Anyways, the hot springs are on the island over there." Palutena pointed to a smaller sky island nearby with her staff, activating her power of flight at the same time to send Pit flying there. Pit carried Lucas as he went, since the psychic boy lacked wings of his own. Viridi activated Dark Pit's Power of Flight too, but he was reluctant to carry Ness.

"Pretty please carry me…! I helped you out, so you owe me!"

"…What are you talking about?"

"Well, I healed Link after he fought Pit, and that made Link tough enough for Palutena to decide to blast him away along with some of the island…and _that_ let you call her out on being a hypocrite, so…"

"That's a bit of a stretch, but fine..." Dark Pit reluctantly picked Ness up and flew over to the hot spring island quickly, trying to get this over with.

"Just stay quiet or I'll drop you right now." Ness gulped, keeping his mouth shut…He did NOT want to find out what falling from this height was like. Then, Dark Pit heard something from Viridi, and Palutena spoke up next.

"_Dark Pit, you might want to hurry up. There's only about a minute left on my Power of Flight…"_

"_You too, Pit…I don't want your wings to burn up again."_

"What?! Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" Dark Pit and Pit spoke in unison on accident, surprising both of them.

"Jinx!" Pit said it first, starting the classic game where Dark Pit wouldn't be allowed to talk until someone said his name.

"Seriously? I'm not playing your kid's gam-Mmph!" Suddenly, Dark Pit found he was unable to speak as Viridi laughed maniacally. She had used her godly powers to inflict an actual curse on Dark Pit, making him mute until someone said his name. Viridi was happy to inform him of his grim fate.

"_Too late! You're in for it now, Pittoo!" _

"…"

"You idiot, you just undid the curse."

"_So you admit Pittoo's your name, then? Gotcha!"_

"What?! No, quit calling me that!"

"_Too late to take it back now! Ahahahaha!"_

"You're right, Pittoo…the gods really are tyrannical! Hahahaha!"

Everyone burst into laughter after that…Everyone except poor grumpy Pittoo.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Water's Great

"Ahhhh…you were right, the water's great!" Ness commented on the water the four of them were relaxing in, one of the hot springs of the floating islands in Skyworld. He almost laughed thinking about how the fact that these sky islands defied gravity and somehow had the geothermal activity to generate hot springs would send Jeff's head spinning...Luckily, he was not Jeff.

"See? Hot springs are the best!" Pit was happy to win over another fan to the side of hot springs. The temperature was just right: warm enough to heal their bodies and minds, but not hot enough to burn them or cold enough to be uncomfortable. All his cuts and bruises Pit had received from the pointy-eared pretty boy were fading away as the water soothed him, even the ones under his clothes. Wait, that didn't seem right.

"Dude. What's with the clothes?" Ness pointed out the obvious, confused on why the angel and his emo twin were still fully clothed even while taking a bath. Lucas, who had a lot more experience with hot springs, had an even more puzzled expression, but didn't say anything as he relaxed in the hot spring. He had gotten hurt a lot more than Pit, so he still needed to wait a while longer before he was fully recovered.

"Um...It's part of the angel's code of conduct! I must always be ready for duty!" Pit tried to look serious as he explained how necessary it was to go to the hot spring fully clothed, feeling a sense of deja vu.

"Really? No one's going to attack us here..."

"...It also saves on laundry." Pit scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed to have to admit that again.

"Wait, she only gave you one outfit? My mom can do better than that, and she doesn't have a million divine powers..." Saying that made Ness feel a little homesick. He certainly enjoyed all the crazy stuff that happened in the world of Smash Bros, but he still missed his family back home. And his friends. And Paula. But when he saw the look on Lucas's face after that, Ness decided not to bring up being homesick anymore.

"See? It's like I said; the gods are lazy and make us angels do all the work." Dark Pit interjected, criticizing how much of the burden was always put on them. Even though he worked for Viridi now, it was only so he could keep flying now that Pandora was gone and could no longer power his wings. It also let him be on a side that wasn't Pit's, something he appreciated.

"What? I don't know about the other gods, but Lady Palutena isn't lazy...I'd be lost without all her support!"

"Exactly, support is all you get. Has she ever fought on the front lines herself, even once?"

"Well...there WAS that time with the Chaos Kin..."

"That doesn't count. Besides, even when she _does _fight like she did a minute ago, she does so much damage that other people have to clean up her mess."

Dark Pit looked out the window for a moment, looking back at the main island which now had a hole in it thanks to Palutena's Final Smash...

* * *

Back on the main island, a giant gloved hand suddenly snapped into existence near the temple, floating right above the impact area of the Palutena Glam Blaster. With a snap of his fingers, an unusually large piece of paper appeared from thin air as well as a giant pencil Master Hand used to start writing on it. Thanks to how big the paper was to fit Master Hand's size, Dark Pit could see what was written on it even from this far.

[Damage Report: Palutena's Temple]

[The stage known as Palutena's Temple has suffered catastrophic damage from a recent battle. A hole has been burnt through the entire sky island, vaporizing everything in a circular area around and below the impact point. Only a Final Smash could have caused such immense destruction, but I do not recall placing any Smash Balls here...I must question the island's inhabitants to find who was responsible. Based on the type of damage, it must have been either Lucario, Samus, or one of the newcomers...]

_Heh...Looks like Miss "Divine Intervention" is in trouble..._ Dark Pit smirked as he read the paper, wondering just how much of a lecture Palutena would get from the giant hand. Meanwhile, Master Hand kept writing for a little while longer, sometimes looking back at the island...Not that he had eyes. It seemed like he was busy evaluating the damage to the temple, and looked a little annoyed at the results. After that, Master Hand snapped his fingers once more and made the paper and pencil disappear. Not only that, but the snap also caused the island to glow for a moment as it miraculously returned to its former state. It was as if it had never been damaged in the first place...One snap later, the giant hand disappeared mysteriously.

* * *

"Am I seeing things, or did he just fix the entire island with a snap of his fingers?" Dark Pit was shocked at how easily the giant hand achieved such a feat. Even Palutena at least had to charge up before she could use that attack, and he assumed it was harder to fix something than it was to break it. He had yet to learn that normal logic didn't apply to the gloved hand and his insane brother.

"You're a newcomer all right...Master Hand does stuff like that all the time. With so many people here, stuff gets broken a lot, so if he couldn't handle that then things would really get out of hand!" Ness winked and got Pit to burst into laughter while Lucas chuckled a little. He only received a frown from Dark Pit. After that there was silence for a little while, but it was soon broken when Pit remembered what Ness said earlier.

"You said you fought aliens too, right? What happened?"

"It's a long story, but it all started one night when a meteor landed near my house..."

Ness then went on to summarize his adventure. He explained how he found out from the fly named "Buzz Buzz" that he was apparently one of the "Chosen Four", and then went on a journey to find the Eight Melodies to gain the power to defeat the evil Giygas and his army of weird monsters and aliens. Along the way he made friends with the other three destined heroes: Paula, a girl who he rescued from the Happy Happyist cult, Jeff, a nerd who came down from Winters to save him and Paula when they were captured, and Poo (no, not the gross kind), the prince of the distant country Dalaam who later taught him the PK Starstorm. He also ended up enemies with his former friend Porky who had been corrupted by Giygas's influence, but for Lucas's sake he avoided talking too much about him. After a few minutes and answering all the questions Pit had along the way, he finally got to the end of his story, where the four of them used Dr. Andonut's time machine to go back to the past and defeat Giygas once and for all.

"...But Giygas was too strong...None of our attacks worked, and all Paula could do was pray for someone, anyone to help."

"Wh-what happened after that?" Pit was on the edge of his metaphorical seat, having gotten into the story and become somewhat terrified by Ness's description of the alien cosmic horror. Ness could have used telepathy to show Pit his memory of what Giygas actually looked like, but he wouldn't wish those nightmares on anyone. Lucas had already heard the story, while Dark Pit didn't seem to care.

"I guess you could say it was a miracle. Everyone in the present heard Paula's call for help, and then their prayers for our safety somehow made it back to the past to reach Giygas. I think all those positive emotions overwhelmed his insane evil mind, since that was what finally destroyed him."

"It's always nice to have someone answer your prayers..." Pit assumed that some god in Ness's universe was responsible, since he didn't know how else to explain something so miraculous happening.

"I dunno if there was a god like Palutena involved or not, but that's how we saved the universe!" Ness made a peace sign as he finished his explanation.

"That was a great story...I didn't think humans could be so strong! No offense."

"None taken. So, how was it for you? What kind of aliens did you fight?"

"First there was that time when the Space Pirates stole the Three Sacred Treasures..."

Then it was Pit's turn to start talking about his battles against the Space Pirates and the Komaytos which looked like Metroids, and the Aurum hive. However, Dark Pit looked bored of it, maybe because he already knew the story, or just didn't like listening to Pit. He ignored the conversation between Pit and Ness and went over to Lucas, who had been quiet for a while now.

"Hey."

"Eh?"

"I think I'm going to to be sick if I listen to that idiot any longer...So what's your story? Viridi says you've been through things I can't imagine, but I think my imagination is better than that."

"Um...There's a lot to say, but I don't know if it's that interesting..." Lucas's voice was hesitant and nervous, clearly not wanting to talk about it. But that wasn't enough to change Dark Pit's mind.

"Try me. It can't be worse than listening to Pit."

"Ok...well...It started about four years ago. Me, Claus, and Mom were returning home after visiting Grandpa, but there was a forest fire..."

Lucas then started explaining his own story, starting with how there was a forest fire and they found that the animals had started turning unnaturally hostile. However, as he went on with the story, it was clear to Dark Pit that something was off. A lot of parts about the incident that started it all seemed to be...missing. It only started getting more consistent once he was explaining the three years between then and the start of his journey, where the evil force known as the "Pigmask Army" and their technology had slowly been corrupting Tazmily Village into a different, more materialistic and greedy lifestyle, leading to him being isolated as one of the only ones who didn't change with the times. Then, after the three years had passed, Lucas awakened his psychic powers with the help of the strange "Magypsies" and was reunited with his friends Kumatora and Duster. The three of them along with his dog Boney rebelled against the Pigmask Army and went on a quest to pull the "Seven Needles" before a mysterious masked man could do it first. Whoever pulled them all and awakened the Dark Dragon first would either save or destroy the world, and after countless battles Lucas and his friends defeated the Pigmasks' evil king, Porky, and awakened the Dark Dragon. By doing so they returned all the animals who had been turned to monstrous Chimeras back to their natural states, and everything was healed. Dark Pit liked that the story was a little darker than Ness's, but it was still a typical happy ending...

Or was it?

"That was more interesting than that story from the other kid. If you fought that many guys and their robots, I guess you're not as much of a wimp as I thought...But I think you're hiding something. If you told me the whole story, then maybe I really wouldn't be able to imagine it..."

"..." Lucas didn't answer. Saying he had told the whole truth would be a lie, and he was terrible at lying, so he just remained silent like he often was.

Meanwhile, Pit was just about done explaining his own space adventures to Ness who was so engrossed in the story that he hadn't noticed the conversation between Lucas and Pittoo at all.

"But then when Pyrrhon tried to take over the Aurum Brain, it started controlling Pyrrhon BACK, and it went all...GRRR...INTRUDER MUST BE PURGED, WE WILL CONSUME ALL! It even started talking in zeros and ones like a robot!"

"Oh no..! So did you free him?"

"Yeah, I just had to kick his butt first! Then once Pyrrhon was back to his senses, he pushed the Aurum Hive off to the other side of the galaxy!"

"Whoa...But it would've been even cooler if he threw it into the sun! I mean, even hotter!"

"Hahaha! You're right, I wish I told him that! Then we'd have a freaky alien barbecue to go with the freaky alien lemonade!" Pit referenced what Hades had said earlier in the Aurum invasion, reminded of how strange it had been to fight alongside the Underworld Army of all people. That kind of strange team up happened when everyone was facing certain doom...Not so different from what happened in Subspace, where even the villains helped once they knew they were set up.

Dark Pit sighed, glad he was finally done recovering in the hot spring.

"You idiots can keep talking, I'm out of here." Just a moment later, a green light appeared around Dark Pit. He was surrounded by numerous leaves that floated upwards, and Lucas swore he could hear birds chirping as the angel disappeared from the area.

"Uh...what was that?"

"That was just Viridi bringing him back to their base. She even used it on me a few times, since after we beat the freaky aliens, Lady Palutena got mind controlled by the Chaos Kin..."

Lucas didn't know what he was referring to, but based on what he said it seemed like some kind of advanced PSI Teleport. Very advanced considering it could not only teleport someone else, but from a remote location too, while Lucas could only barely warp himself and had failed horribly the last time he tried...Palutena and Viridi definitely weren't called goddesses for nothing.

_"Speaking of freaky aliens, the night sky is beautiful today. There aren't any clouds, and there's something interesting up there tonight."_

"Really? What is it?"

_"It's better if you see for yourself."_

* * *

A minute later, the three of them had returned to the outside of Palutena's Temple and now looked up at the starry sky. Since they were above most of the clouds in Skyworld and were away from the lights of the city, they could see it clearly. It really was beautiful tonight, and there was a lot to take in since the stars and constellations were all different from each of their home universes. However, one celestial object in particular got their attention above all else...

"Whoa...it's a comet!"

"And not just any comet: it's the Comet Observatory, the home of Rosalina and the Lumas. It travels through the cosmos, visiting her home planet once every hundred years..."

"So Rosalina's finally in Smash? That's great!"

"You know about her, Pit?"

"Yeah. Back when we teamed up in the fight with Subspace, Mario told me all about his journey throughout the galaxies. Apparently she helped him save the universe!"

Meanwhile, Lucas just silently admired the view, reminded of another reason he preferred avoiding the city life when it made him miss out on things like this. Then Palutena had a suggestion.

"I hear she has a nice library with a lot of books for children...Maybe she could finally teach you how to read!"

Ness struggled to hold back laughter hearing that, since it was hilarious that even though Pit was older than him he still couldn't read.

"Don't mock me..! Hmph...You try being an angel in Palutena's army and see if you get any time to read! I end up doing everything around here with how bad the Centurions are at their jobs..."

"I'd try it, but I can't fly. Maybe Dedede would be a better angel than me." Ness knew Dedede pretty well after Dedede's badges revived him, Luigi, and Kirby in Subspace, so he knew that somehow he had learned to fly like Kirby despite being a penguin.

"...I DIDN'T ASK TO BE BORN WITH BAD WINGS!"

"You might need my Power of Cooling for that burn."

Lucas felt sorry for Pit and offered some sympathy. "Don't feel bad, Pit...At least you're a better fighter than the other angels. Just because you have a disability doesn't mean you're worse than anyone else...My friend Duster is actually faster than me even though his left foot is numb!" He was fast enough to be sort of like Captain Falcon, but with more kicks and less Falcon Punches. And a more normal attitude.

"Thanks..."

After that, Lucas was a little confused about what Palutena said. "Um...You said she could teach him how to read, but she's in space..." There was no way they could possibly get there. Even Lucas and Ness's PSI Teleport wouldn't work on a place they'd never been to like the Comet Observatory.

"So? That isn't a problem."

"Huh?!" Lucas was shocked, having not paid attention to Pit's stories about his space adventures since he had been talking to Dark Pit.

"I can send Pit there with the Power of Flight. If you want, you two could go with him."

Ness's eyes lit up at the idea of space travel. "Really? We can go to space?! Lucas, we're gonna be astronauts!" Ness remembered learning in school how the astronauts of Eagleland did the impossible and landed on the moon back in the year 196X. Now, it was finally his turn...

"That sounds dangerous...How are we going to survive in outer space?" Lucas didn't know a lot about space travel, but he did know one basic fact after meeting several space travelers in the last tournament: One does not simply fly into space. Everyone needed spaceships and spacesuits to protect them from the cold, empty void...

"Oh, I doubt that will be a problem. As fighters in 'Super Bash Sisters' your bodies aren't nearly as fragile, but just to be safe I'll give you my Power of Space Safety."

Ness had a confused look. "It's actually 'Super Smash Brothers'."

"Is it really that?"

"I've been here since day one...It's definitely that."

Pit was even more confused. "I feel like we've said this before. Have we said this before?"

"Anyways, have fun out there. It might be a bit of a bumpy ride, so hang on tight!" Palutena's staff glowed as she activated Pit's Power of Flight, causing his wings to glow as he flew up towards the distant stars. Lucas grabbed onto him with his Rope Snake, and Ness hung on to Lucas's leg as the three of them were pulled through the air at absurd speeds. Lucas heard someone else's thoughts too...It was actually Rope Snake, who was reminded of his past failures in situations where he had to carry people like this.

_"I'm sorry for the trouble I caused last time and the time before that...But if it's just two people and no dogs, my jaw can handle that! I won't fail this time...I think...hopefully..."_

_"Thanks, Rope Snake...Your jaw saved us all back then."_

Rope Snake felt at least some of his former confidence return as they flew up into space, heading towards the Comet Observatory.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: No Longer EarthBound

Ness, Lucas, and his Rope Snake hung on to Pit for dear life as Palutena's Power of Flight let the angel fly up into the night sky at speeds that would impress even Sonic, soaring above the last few clouds beyond Skyworld and rapidly approaching the edge of the planet's atmosphere. Ness decided not to question why they weren't burning up while leaving orbit, not wanting to tempt fate and make the laws of physics reassert themselves. Then again, the laws were probably different here when that giant hand could pretty much write and rewrite them however he wanted.

"Too...much...G...Force..!" Lucas struggled to speak and still hold onto Rope Snake when they were flying up so quickly, not eager to find out what falling from orbit would be like.

"You'll get used to it eventually." Pit commented on it, reminded how often he'd flown to space by now. It had gotten less uncomfortable after a few times.

Finally, Pit's wings glowed even brighter as Palutena gave him one last burst of speed. The trio broke free of the planet's atmosphere and entered its orbit, reaching outer space at last. The difference was apparent right away, as even when Palutena stopped sending Pit upwards and let him float in place, they were in no danger of falling anymore. Pit's wings no longer glowed blue and relaxed as he drifted in orbit of the planet, and Ness had to grab his hat with his left hand to stop it from drifting off into space, while Lucas's hair style got a bit messed up by the lack of gravity, with his cowlick sticking out as his hair became floaty. Meanwhile Rope Snake stopped biting Pit to hold on, glad to finally get some rest as he stuck in Lucas's pocket. They all had some time to relax as they looked off into the starry sky.

"Wow...it's so beautiful..."

Lucas watched in awe at the view from up here. It was incredible to see the night sky from space, unobstructed by the atmosphere. The stars and constellations were very different from the ones in his universe, but that only made it more fascinating. Not only that, but what was more impressive was the view of the earth from orbit.

"I guess we're no longer earthbound...everything looks so small from up here!"

Ness looked back at the planet below, seeing the familiar landscape of the World of Trophies from a very different perspective now. The land they lived in was large to be sure, but it didn't seem that way from orbit. He could see most of the familiar landmarks: the sky islands they had just flown from, the forest where Link had met Yoshi, the jungle the Kongs lived in, the plains Lucas visited sometimes, Icicle Mountain, the badlands where the three swordsmen fought Galleom, the lake Rayquaza lived in, the ancient ruins Lucas had once explored with Red, the castle that Marth and many others from his universe lived in, the once abandoned zoo which was now inhabited by many Pokemon, and of course the big city of Smashville and the Midair Stadium that floated above it. Actually, some of those weren't visible from space, but the ones that were all looked a lot smaller now. There was much more beyond just those areas, since they were only part of the largest island in the world's vast ocean, which was full of other islands too like Yoshi's Island and Isle Delfino to name a few. Ness had seen pictures of his own world that were taken in space before, but being up there himself was an amazing experience...

_POP_

A sound distracted him, and he turned back to looking at space, trying to find out where it came from. _Wait, how is there sound in spac-_

"Hey look, it's Kirby!"

Pit pointed, getting Ness and Lucas to look at the pink puffball who had popped into existence out of nowhere riding a yellow star-shaped object: his Warp Star. The name fit since it could warp Kirby to pretty much anywhere in this universe or any other. Ness would have been a little jealous if the puffball didn't look so adorable as he flew through the stars with a smile, leaving a trail of smaller stars in the wake of his Warp Star. While Kirby wasn't the smartest fighter since he was basically a kid for his "Star Warrior" species according to Meta Knight, he had nearly infinite potential since he could copy the powers of anyone he inhaled. Even after three tournaments with him, Ness still wasn't sure what Kirby was made of, but whatever it was had to be as special as it was squishy. He'd already saved the day in an incredible way once...

Maybe someday he would do it again.

"Um...why is there a rainbow in space?" Lucas asked in a confused voice, looking at an unusual object he only noticed after Kirby started flying in its direction, although he wouldn't get there for a while since he was taking a more scenic route. It was colored like a rainbow, but on a closer look, it actually wasn't a rainbow. Ness was quick to explain the nature of the place.

"That's not a rainbow, it's Rainbow Road! It's a racetrack the guys from the mushroom world like having go kart races on. This is perfect, 'cause I've got a match over there in a few minutes!"

"Sure, I'll fly you there! So who are you fighting?" Pit talked to Ness as Palutena activated the Power of Flight again, giving Pit a boost in the direction of the Rainbow Road as he carried the other two, then disabled it once he had enough speed. After all, there was nothing stopping his momentum up here in space, and it would be bad to waste the limited time he could fly.

"I'm not sure. All he said was that it's a 4 person free-for-all with items." Ness sighed, wishing he knew who he was up against. Sometimes Master Hand told the fighters who their opponents would be in advance, but sometimes he didn't. Whenever anyone asked, the answer was "You cannot always know who your enemy will be in a real fight.", which made sense but was still frustrating to hear. The silver lining was that the other side wouldn't be prepared either.

"Man, Master Hand sure is mysterious..." Pit was only starting to get used to it after one tournament, but Master Hand had a habit of keeping secrets and being vague and ambiguous. It was a habit Ness was even more familiar with.

"Yeah, I can never get inside that guy's head...Not that he _has_ a head!"

Laughter ensued as the three of them approached the Rainbow Road. Now that they were closer, Lucas could see the racetrack more clearly. It had many twists and sharp turns, and an arch which marked the start and finish line. Some areas of this very difficult-looking track had guardrails to protect the drivers and others did not. It looked incredibly dangerous, but the drivers down there didn't have an issue with it. They included the Mario Bros, DK, Peach, and Bowser. The one who kept kidnapping Peach. Lucas scratched his head, having a puzzled look as he watched the Mario Kart race.

"Why are they go-karting with Bowser?"

Pit was the one to answer, apparently being the resident expert on Bowser after all his chats with Mario.

"I know it looks weird, but he's not an enemy to them like Hades is to me...more like Gaol and Magnus. They may be enemies, but they're friendly enemies!"

"I still don't get it..." Lucas didn't know who Gaol and Magnus were, but he thought of his own nemesis and tried to imagine go-karting with him. The only picture that came to mind was removing him from the vehicle and running him over. He had to stop himself from thinking such violent thoughts...

"Mario says Bowser isn't as bad as he looks. Sure, he kidnaps Peach and tries to take over the Mushroom Kingdom a lot, but he'd never hurt her, and I think he's just trying to beat Mario to prove he's the best...I think Bowser actually likes Peach."

"But that makes no sense, she hates being kidnapped!"

"...Bowser isn't too bright."

As Pit made that comment, they had almost reached Rainbow Road, but once they got close enough...

"Whoaaaa! Why are we falling?!" Pit cried out as they suddenly dropped down, falling for no apparent reason until Palutena activated the Power of Flight again. He had dropped Ness by accident, but Ness was close enough to telekinetically double jump and barely land on the road. The goddess then explained what happened.

_"There's an artificial gravity source here. Otherwise, the racers wouldn't be able to drive, and Ness wouldn't be able to fight properly in the upcoming battle."_

"That makes sense...sort of." Pit flew a bit further away from the racetrack until he was back in normal space, where Palutena could deactivate the Power of Flight again, letting him float in space as he spectated the upcoming fight. Meanwhile, Lucas double jumped onto the racetrack, glad to finally stand on solid ground again.

"Ahh!"

Lucas was not so glad a moment later when he was hit by an incoming Bowser, sent flying off the road until he narrowly grabbed the guardrails with Rope Snake to pull himself back up. He tried glaring at Bowser only to get laughter in response as the Koopa King took the lead...

"You might want to stay back." Ness warned Lucas as a platform suddenly appeared where he was standing and began floating above the rest of the track, a sign that the battle would start soon. Lucas stayed near the edge of the track and avoided the platform Ness was on, knowing he had to stay off of the battle area when he wasn't in this match.

Then there was the next sign of an impending match: The announcer.

"FREE FOR ALL!"

Master Hand's voice echoed across the racetrack as many people were now watching this match remotely. He seemed pleased that Ness had shown up early and gave him a thumbs up as the other participants started to arrive one by one. The first was an unusually human-like fox who jumped off a cool-looking spaceship. He had a fearsome reputation as a galactic mercenary and winner of the great "Melee", but a very unoriginal name.

"FOX!"

The next fighter jumped off of another spaceship to land on the platform, specifically the Falcon Flyer. Apparently he had hitched a ride on it to get to space, and it was no surprise Captain Falcon would show up for a race. He had a weird-looking sword with a hole in the hilt, wore a mostly red outfit with a jacket and some shorts, and was blonde like Lucas, but was closer to being an adult than a kid. This guy was definitely a newcomer, and yet another swordfighter...which Ness had no problem with, since the more of the same type there were, the easier it was to get used to fighting them all.

"SHULK!"

"Huh, so that's your name. Nice to meet you, Shulk!" Ness offered a handshake to the newcomer, who took it, but looked a little confused.

"It's nice to meet you too, but aren't you a little young to be fighting here?"

"I'm not _that_ young...And I'm not some ordinary kid. I've been here since the first tournament!" It had already been about two years since Ness fought Giygas, and he was 13 back then, so the difference between him and Shulk wasn't that much. Shulk was surprised Ness was one of the originals, and seemed to take him more seriously now. Ness also noticed he had the same accent as Jeff.

Next the camera for the many Miis and some fighters watching the match remotely zoomed in on Ness, who put his hat back on now that gravity was working again. He made a peace sign and smiled for the camera when he realized with his PSI that Master Hand was announcing him next.

"NESS!"

Finally, it was time for the fourth fighter...Who could it possibly be? Ness waited in anticipation, sure he could take on whoever it wa-

_Crap! Anyone but him!_

Ness's jaw dropped as the final fighter arrived via teleportation. He was the one opponent Ness was not ready to face today. Even Fox wasn't too scary for Ness, as long as he didn't fight as insanely well as he did in the second tournament. Bayonetta was the most infamous newcomer, but since she was a newcomer she hadn't built a reputation yet. This guy on the other hand was the most dangerous fighter unmatched in 1v1s, the champion of the third tournament named...

"META KNIGHT!"

Pit flinched at the sight of him, and as much as Lucas appreciated Meta Knight saving him and Red in the past, he couldn't help but worry for Ness's safety after seeing how unstoppable the masked knight was in the last tournament. Even Fox was sweating a little after the infamous masked man warped in with his Dimensional Cape. Shulk was the only one to remain totally unfazed, knowing nothing of his reputation.

"3..."

Meta Knight's sword Galaxia appeared out of nowhere as he 'unsheathed' it from space. Shulk took a stance where he pointed his sword diagonally downwards in front of him, causing a purple symbol to fill the hole in its hilt as the blade glowed purple too, and he said "Buster!" for some reason. Fox got out his blaster and waited near the edge of the platform, ready to shoot anything that moved. Ness wielded his baseball bat and kept an eye on Meta Knight, obviously worried about him the most.

"2..."

"D-don't worry Ness, you can do it!" Lucas tried to reassure his friend, but it wasn't very effective since he wasn't too sure himself. Could Meta Knight be defeated this time around, and had people started adapting to his fighting style like Fox? Or would he be the winner yet again?

"1..."

The Mario Kart racers kept racing despite the battle, apparently acting as the stage hazards for this arena. Lucas had to dodge an incoming red shell, barely jumping over it in time as it went under him and after Bowser, which sent his kart spinning. This let Luigi pass and stare at Bowser in a way that gave Lucas the same creepy vibes as when he used his final smash in the last tournament. If looks could kill, this would be a 'death stare' for sure.

"GO!"

As the battle began, Fox kept his distance and kept shooting his blaster at Meta Knight, who deflected the lasers by spinning like a tornado and actually creating a mini tornado around himself as he got closer. Shulk tried using that opportunity to go after Fox, stabbing once he got close. But he clearly wasn't in sword ran-

"AGH!"

Never mind. His sword somehow projected an energy blade that doubled its length, letting him hit Fox by giving him reach that would make Marth jealous. Either way, it still left him open to an attack from behind. "PK Fire!" Ness shot a bolt of fire at Shulk's back, only to be shocked when it went past him and hit Fox instead. The newcomer suddenly gained a huge burst of speed and jumped out of the way as the symbol on his sword turned blue, then quickly counterattacked with a slash that knocked Ness away. When he landed, he saw that Shulk's eyes were glowing as he turned to face him again. Just how did he dodge that surprise attack?

Shulk had an answer.

"Next, you'll say: "How'd you dodge that, are there eyes in the back of your head?""

"How'd you dodge that, are there eyes in the back of your head-Huh?!" Ness gasped in surprise that the new guy took the words right out of his mouth.

"Wh-what was that?! Are you a mind reader?"

"Not quite. I can't read minds, but with the Monado's power, I can see the fut-"

KABOOM

While they were talking and distracted, a Smart Bomb thrown by Fox exploded right next to them, sending them both flying. He then went back to fighting Meta Knight who kept attacking him with more sword slashes. While Ness was still in midair, he was hit by Meta Knight being sent flying into him by a kick from Fox. Ness shielded himself with PSI Shield to endure the incoming Drill Rush, then retaliated with a blast of PK Rockin', his unique PSI attack which made a very colorful psychic explosion of reds, blues, and yellows in such bright patterns that it might give some people seizures. It was enough to keep Meta Knight away from him for now and knock him into Shulk, and that was good enough for Ness.

Ness took advantage of the chaos after that, managing to stay out of the fight for a moment where Shulk was unaware enough to try to fight Meta Knight by himself and Fox dashed in with his Fox Illusion to attack them both. The moment of quiet let him notice an item: an Assist Trophy. _Perfect! _Ness smirked as he made a dash for the assist trophy, having to duck to avoid Shulk who was sent flying past him with Fox in quick pursuit. Just as he was about to grab it, Ness got cut by Meta Knight, even though he was a dozen or so meters away. It was a sword beam, something he almost forgot that guy could do. Now he needed a distraction or else he'd get the assist trophy first...

"PK FLASH!" Ness made a blinding flash of light, which managed to disorient the masked man for just a moment, and that was all he needed. He lifted the assist trophy up into the air, causing its casing to vanish as it summoned someone who Ness really wished would be-

"Jeff!"

Ness was in awe of his luck as his favorite Assist Fighter appeared. A blonde boy about his age with a blue outfit, very nerdy looking glasses, and a bottle that somehow could fire rockets. The moment he showed up, he was very, very surprised by the environment they were fighting in.

"Ness, how are we fighting in space? There's no bloody gravity here, at least there shouldn't be! No oxygen either!"

Meanwhile, Ness started taking a beating as he unfortunately got knocked back and forth between Fox and Meta Knight who had somehow boosted his speed, then sent flying into Shulk. He barely had time to heal himself before the newcomer jumped at him shouting "Back Slash!" while the two legends went back to dueling each other.

"But if artificial gravity IS possible, then the possibilities are-"

"JEFF! STOP NERDING OUT!"

"Right. Sorry mate."

[Jeff fired the Multi-Bottle Rocket!]

Jeff unleashed a salvo of rockets at Shulk just as Ness jumped out of the way of his beam sword, which detonated in a huge combined explosion.

"There's no way he survived that."

Despite its appearance, the Multi-Bottle Rocket was no ordinary explosive. The kind of firepower this barrage of rockets packed was enough to make even most PK attacks look like firecrackers in comparison. That's why Ness sighed when the smoke cleared, since Shulk was somehow still standing as his sword now had a yellow symbol. It was the Shield Monado Art.

"...I shouldn't have said that."

However, that didn't help him when Fox dashed and grabbed him instead, throwing him down into the ground and shooting him with lasers. Ness took that opportunity to hit them both with his baseball bat, sending them off the stage. However, Fox recovered with his Fox Illusion, and Shulk's Shield art kept him from going out of bounds. By now, Ness was starting to get what these symbols did. Unfortunately, the Shield art also made Shulk bad at jumping, so when he tried to get back to the stage, it was easy for Meta Knight to swoop in and deliver several midair slashes which sent him down to the blast zone where he disappeared in a pillar of light.

"SHULK...DEFEATED!"

Ness was sweating a little now, having to deal with Fox while Meta Knight flew back to the stage. The only distraction those guys had now was each other...Ness tried to trip up Fox with his Combat Yo-Yo, but he hopped over it and hit him with a barrage of midair kicks that knocked Ness back. For an ace pilot he was surprisingly good at fighting on the ground, because he had more experience with it after the missions in Sauria and against the Aparoids. He didn't give Ness any time to recover and ran after him almost as quickly as Captain Falcon...

"Leave him to me!" Jeff aimed the Multi-Bottle Rocket at Fox, ready to fire the barrage of explosives and save Ness.

"Jeff, WAIT!" Ness cried out to warn him, but he was too late.

BLIP

That sound was one many had learned to dread in the second tournament. It was the sound of the blue forcefield surrounding Fox; his Reflector which contrary to the name was often used to electrocute and stun people to combo them. Now it was actually used for its intended purpose, reflecting all the rockets right back at Jeff and sending him flying as if he was a member of Team Rocket. He was done assisting for this battle...

Meanwhile, Meta Knight flew after Fox as Ness got up from the ground, looking up to see something that made Lucas, Pit, and the rest of the crowd gasp while Ness grinned:

A Smash Ball!

This was his chance to finally turn the tables, or tip the scales like one of the newcomers might say. Ness shot a ball of PK Thunder up into the air, guiding it into the glowing sphere. Unfortunately, that knocked it closer to the other two who had now noticed it thanks to the audience's reaction. Fox jumped into the air and turned fiery, launching himself up and breaking the Smash Ball. Lucas and Pit gasped in fear as Fox was about to use his Final Smash...

Only to get hit by Meta Knight's Mach Tornado, which knocked the aura right out of him, turning it back into a Smash Ball. This gave Ness just the chance he needed to double jump and hit the Smash Ball with his baseball bat, breaking it again and absorbing its power which gave him a rainbow-colored aura and glowing yellow eyes as he now easily levitated in place while looking down on the others with a smile. It was hard to describe the experience of having a Smash Ball, but he felt practically overflowing with power that was just itching to be unleashed. It was so much that he worried he might pop like a balloon if he just kept levitating there, so Ness didn't hesitate to use his Final Smash.

"PK..."

The two opponents looked up while Ness raised his arms up to the sky, as if calling something down. As those somethings fell towards the battlefield, Ness was thankful to the one who taught him this ultimate attack.

_Poo, you rock!_

"STARSTORM!"

A rain of psychic meteors hit the Rainbow Road, sending the drivers into a panic as they scrambled to avoid them. Ness was sure he heard a "Mama Mia!" or two, and they weren't the only unintended targets. Pit, who had been flying and carrying Lucas so they could keep up with watching the battle that moved all over the racetrack, also had to dodge the meteors as his goddess telepathically gave him some advice.

_"Do a barrel roll!"_

Pit rolled out of the way just in time, but the actual doer of barrel rolls wasn't as lucky, since rolling away from one only got him hit by another which knocked him off the stage. Meta Knight used his Dimensional Cape to dodge some of the meteors by teleporting, but he also was hit by enough to be sent flying off the platform. Ness was worried when it looked like they would both recover, until Meta Knight had an opportunist streak and used the time off stage to send Fox out of bounds with a quick series of slashes. He was _very _good at edge-guarding.

"FOX...DEFEATED!"

Ness fell back to the ground as the Final Smash aura left him, trying to catch his breath after exerting so much psychic power. He had really hoped that attack would end the battle right away. Now that it didn't, it was just him and the swordsman who many thought of as the ultimate duelist.

How bad could it be?

Meta Knight spoke up for the first time in the match as he threw a nearby Beam Sword at the ground next to Ness. As scary as he was, he had some kind of code of honor too.

"Take it!"

His voice was surprisingly deep for someone as small as Kirby, and had a Spanish accent to it. Ness put his hands on his hips, nodded his head and said something he often said.

"Okay!"

Ness put his bat away and picked up the Beam Sword instead, holding it with one hand so the other was free for PK attacks. He could hit harder if he swung with both hands, but he wasn't dumb enough to think his sword skills could equal the guy who could unleash a literal tornado of slashes. Only his psychic powers would give him a chance here.

"Now we can battle as equals. En garde!" The masked man flew at Ness, closing the distance in a split-second.

"PK Fire!" Meta Knight sidestepped it, giving Ness the chance to swing at him with the Beam Sword which extended to have a very long reach, but even that was deflected by the knight's ridiculously fast sword swings.

_If I could just get one good_ _hit..._

Meta Knight had to be on his last stubby legs now after taking those PK Starstorm hits. Among his few weaknesses were his weight and defense, more specifically his lack of those qualities. He knew this, and didn't give Ness any clear chances to attack as he spun at him in a Mach Tornado that was starting to overwhelm the psychic teenager. Ness grit his teeth and jumped back as he put up another PSI Shield, trying to hang on as long as he could to strike back at the frustratingly hard to hit enemy. Then an idea came to him.

As Meta Knight flew in to attack again, Ness swung the beam sword as he was in midair. Meta Knight teleported away with his Dimensional Cape just before Ness could reach him. Ness turned around to find Meta Knight reappearing behind him and slashing simultaneously. Instead of trying to avoid it, Ness let his PSI Shield take the hit as he threw the sword, which was surprisingly effective since Meta Knight wasn't expecting someone to throw away their weapon as he jumped back. The Beam Sword cut right through Meta Knight's mask, which fell to the ground in halves as he dropped his sword in defeat...

Everyone had their own guesses on why Meta Knight always wore a mask. Lucas thought it was to hide his identity, since maybe he was a secret agent like Snake and had to keep his face a secret...Ness kind of missed Snake. The other guess was that his face was very ugly or scary, but that couldn't be further from the truth as Ness finally saw what was under the mask.

"So _that's _why you wear a mask...you're as cute as Kirby!"

He looked just like Kirby, except he was blue instead of pink and had yellow eyes, and he was just as adorable. Meta Knight looked angry as he covered himself with his cape to hide his face, but it was hard to take him seriously now.

"I am the strongest swordsman in the galaxy...I am _not _cute! You may have bested me in this battle, but you will not be so lucky in the next. Victory is my destiny!"

He then teleported himself, his broken mask, and his sword away with his cape, retreating and ending the battle.

"GAME!"

Ness struggled to hold back laughter long enough to do his victory pose, where he swung his baseball bat and pointed off to the horizon with it.

"The winner is...NESS!"

Once the camera was off of him and the battle was officially over, Ness couldn't help but laugh. To think he had been so afraid of this cute little puffball...It was only more comical that he tried to be so serious despite his appearance. Pit and Lucas landed near Ness now that the battle was over, but only Lucas was surprised at Meta Knight's face. Pit had already known he looked like Kirby thanks to Palutena's guidance.

"I can't believe he wore a mask just for that..." Lucas didn't get why Meta Knight's cuteness was a reason to wear a mask like that. Was it to get people to take him seriously? It would actually be an advantage if they didn't, not that he needed advantages when he was already so strong. The mask still bothered him...

Lucas didn't like masks.

Pit had another guess. "Maybe it's like his suit of armor? He does call himself a knight, and it covers most of his body..."

Ness hadn't thought of it that way before. "Maybe you're right..." Then Pit spoke up again.

"Anyways, congratulations! I can't believe you beat Meta Knight!"

"You had that little faith, huh?"

"No! I mean yes! I mean...uh..."

"Hahaha! Don't worry, I'm not sure I believe it either." Ness was still surprised he was able to win against Meta Knight, but he had to admit he had been pretty lucky. Fox and Shulk had been fighting him too, Jeff helped out, and he even got the Smash Ball. If it was one on one without items, it might have gone much worse.

Their conversation was interrupted as something sped past them on the Rainbow Road. It was none other than Kirby, who had just made Mario and DK spin out by flying between them. Ness and Lucas had to jump away to dodge the incoming vehicles while Pit just flew above the course again. All of them watched as Kirby crossed the finish line, gliding through the air on his Warp Star-

And then got knocked off course by something else that flew in out of nowhere, knocking the pink puffball off his Warp Star, making it spin wildly out of control as Kirby barely grabbed onto it again. He went spiraling down to a lower track of the course where the star shattered into many smaller stars, causing Kirby to roll over many times and land on his face as he painfully skidded to a stop on the rainbow-colored pavement.

"Pit, fly us over there, he might be hurt!"

Lucas looked worried for the puffball's safety as Pit obliged and carried him and Ness towards the other end of the course, but something else descended from above before he could get there, having fallen from whatever the object that hit Kirby earlier was. It was a tiny yellow creature even smaller than Kirby shaped sort of like a star, but without any sharp edges. It left a trail of what looked like stardust as it walked over to Kirby, having small black eyes and lacking a mouth like the Waddle Dees, yet was somehow still able to make a sound as it poked the squishy puffball several times.

"What's that star thingy?" Lucas asked, since he'd never seen something like this before.

"That's one of the Lumas Mario met in space, and that means Rosalina must be here!" Pit reminded him of what they had talked about earlier.

Kirby turned out to be ok and got up from the ground, looking around and raising one stubby little arm in surprise as he made eye contact with the equally cute Luma. All the racers had gotten to this part of the track by now and slowed to a stop to look at the scene, and Pit dropped Lucas and Ness near Kirby. DK even felt like poking Kirby's squishy cheeks. Then everyone looked over to a woman who had landed nearby, who must have been the Rosalina Pit mentioned. She was very tall, with shoulder-length blonde hair that covered her right eye, with the left eye being blue like Lucas's. She wore a blue dress and even a crown indicating she was royalty of some kind, and wielded some kind of magic wand with a star at the end. When the Luma jumped into her arms, Rosalina looked just like a-

"Mama!"

When the Luma spoke, Lucas's heart skipped a beat.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Sad Story

(Author's Note:

Disclaimer: I don't own Nintendo, Smash Bros, or any of the franchises and characters in it. I definitely don't own Super Mario Galaxy or Rosalina and her storybook. Also beware spoilers for that storybook in this chapter.

Now that that's over with, thanks for all the feedback and I hope you enjoy!)

* * *

Lucas took a step back, startled at the arrival of the newcomer holding the Luma in her arms. What he heard the Luma say confirmed what Pit said about Rosalina being the mother of the Lumas. Their appearances were completely different, so she couldn't possibly be their biological parent...the star child must have been an orphan she adopted.

_Orphan._ That word brought back many unpleasant memories to Lucas. After..._that incident_ happened, Lucas had not been an orphan but sometimes felt like one. His father spent almost all his time since then searching for Claus who had gone missing, and the rest was spent visiting_...that place,_ leaving almost none for Lucas. The fact that Lucas became an outcast in the village when he didn't embrace all the..._changes_ that were happening to the village made him more alone than ever in those three years...

"Poyo?" Mercifully, the pink puffball derailed that train of thought as he approached Rosalina curiously, waddling on his stubby little red feet. All the Mario Kart drivers except DK seemed to recognize the newcomer, and the Mario Bros and Peach looked happy to see her.

"Rosalina, it's-a good to see you again!" Mario greeted her with a smile and a wave, while Luigi did the same but didn't say anything. He too had been on that adventure in space, just not playing as much of a role as Mario like usual. As much as he wanted to be less cowardly, being the star of the show was too terrifying for Luigi unless he had no choice. Lucas felt the same way...

But he rarely got a choice.

"I'm glad you were invited as well. You did help Mario save the galaxies and me, so you're more than qualified! If only Daisy were here too, then it would be all three of us princesses..." Peach sighed, wishing her best friend had been invited. Unfortunately, with how similar their fighting styles were, it seemed her chances were slim, but she still held onto some hope for next time knowing there were other fighters who fought in almost exactly the same way.

"You again..? You'd better not mess with my plans anymore, or you'll regret it big time!" Bowser growled in annoyance, not happy to see the one who had helped Mario stop his first plan for universal conquest and more recently joined Mario, Green Stache, and even Peach when they fought to free the weird pixies he'd captured. As Rosalina remained unfazed by his threat, the Koopa King noticed someone else he didn't like either...

"You too, you blonde brat! I would've kicked your little buddy to the curb if you hadn't cheated and double teamed me!"

Lucas stumbled backwards, intimidated by the giant fire-breathing turtle. "I-I'm s-sorry, Mr. Koopa..." He stuttered and couldn't help being a little afraid of someone who could easily knock out most fighters in a number of hits that could be counted on one hand. Technically he had broken the rules back then, but only because he couldn't bear watching Ness be hurt so badly when he couldn't give it his all.

Ness stood between him and Lucas, glaring a little at the giant turtle. "Back off, you overgrown lizard! We redid that match, and you still lost, so get over it."

"Hmph...I was just going easy on you 'cause you're a kid." Bowser backed off for the same reason he held back on the younger fighters, not wanting to keep arguing with someone so small. Now even his own kids were fighters...not that he expected any less, of course.

_"Thanks, Ness..."_

_"Don't worry about it. He's more bark than bite anyways."_

DK put both hands palm up and shook his head to express his confusion, having no idea what they were talking about. He didn't leave his island to join in on their adventures that often, although he did like all the sports and parties they had.

Meanwhile, Mario looked at Kirby, then Rosalina and her Luma, gesturing with his hands as he introduced them to each other since he was one of the few who knew them both. "Kirby, this is a-Luma. Luma's from a-space just like you, so I'm sure you'll be great-a friends!" Then he looked back to Rosalina. "And Rosalina, this is a-Kirby. You could say he's like a very, very Hungry Luma, since he can eat just about anything. He's a good kid, just make-a sure he doesn't eat all the food...we don't a-want another Cake Incident." Pit shuddered as he remembered the unfortunate fate of the cake Peach had baked in celebration of their victory against Tabuu.

"Ah man, don't remind me..." Pit sighed, unhappy to be reminded of the great food he had missed out on. It was disappointing, but there were few who could actually be angry at Kirby when he was so cute.

"Poyo?" Kirby remained innocently unaware of what they meant and looked back with a smile to the Luma who now floated towards him.

"Hiiii~"

The puffball said one of the few words he knew and waved his stubby little arms at the Luma, and it gave a wave back with its own tiny hands. Rosalina floated closer to the others while she watched the two star children make friends, waving her wand a little as they did a dance where Kirby spun on one foot as the Luma circled around him, then switched to the other with a smile. Finally, they gave each other a high five, causing a little star to appear as they finished doing the ridiculously adorable dance.

"Awww..." was the reaction of most of the people watching, except Rosalina who was used to it, DK who couldn't speak their language, and Bowser because he felt too tough for that kind of mushy stuff.

_"Lady Palutena...You might need to revive me again."_

_"Why is that?"_

_"...I think my heart just melted."_

_"If this is too cute for you, you're in trouble if Pichu comes back."_

_"...Who's Pichu?"_

_"...I'll leave that to your imagination."_

Rosalina turned back to the Mario Kart drivers now that Kirby and the Luma made friends, realizing that they had been in the middle of a race before Kirby crash-landed in front of them.

"I apologize for interrupting the exciting race you were all having. I only wished to watch this race and join the next one, not send this poor child crashing in your path...If there is anything I can do to make up for it, please let me know."

"Don't a-worry, you've helped us more than enough already; I never would have a-saved the galaxies and Peach without you! We can just a-start a new race, and you and Douglas can join in too!" Mario knew the Captain's actual name and had noticed the Falcon Flyer nearby, which he was standing on to get a better view of the race. Shulk was also there since he had gotten a ride to his match here courtesy of Falcon. It was unfortunate he'd lost, but watching this race helped take his mind off of it. Just then, his eyes glowed blue...but he didn't say anything, not wanting to spoil the surprise. As the F-Zero racer drove onto the racetrack with his Blue Falcon kart, Mario was happy to greet him.

"Welcome to Mario Kart!"

It would still take some time before they could start their next race, since they were already halfway across the track and needed to return to the starting line. As they drove back, Ness used his PSI to have a chat with a certain understudy despite the distance between them.

* * *

_"Sup."_

_"What? I'm hearing voices in my head...Could it be a g-g-ghost?! Mama Mia..."_

_"Dude, it's just me. Ness."_

_"Right...you've got those psychic powers."_

_"I saw your match earlier. It was rockin! You stomped that new guy, literally!"_

_"You're flattering me...I was losing all the way until the end. He could power through my kicks like they were nothing, he ran faster than a Koopa shell, and he punched like he was DK! Mario says he really_ _did_ _punch out DK once! I only won because I got the Poltergust and knocked him off...then when he tried to recover, he could barely jump, so I just kicked him off the ledge. It was a fluke, really..."_

_"That's right...you got a new Final Smash, huh. Neat! I think I like this one better. No offense, but the old one gave me the creeps."_

_"N-none taken, it scared me too..." _The Negative Zone had been made from all of Luigi's negative emotions, like his many fears, his resentment at always failing, and most of all...his jealousy at being in Mario's shadow. It had felt horrible to use it, since he didn't like that part of himself let alone projecting it onto others to put them to sleep. He'd felt a little better since he had gone on more adventures since the 'Brawl' and even saved Mario a second time. He was glad to have his new Poltergust as a Final Smash instead now that those negative feelings had diminished.

_"It wasn't really a fluke. He might be unstoppable on the ground, but Mac lost because he sucks at jumping while you're great at it. Better than Mario, even!"_

_"You're overestimating me...what about how I keep slipping on the ground like it's ice? Or how I'm so afraid of everything? I'll never be as good as Mario, so calling me better is a joke..."_

Ness sighed, realizing Luigi had a lot of issues to work through before he could be confident in himself.

_"Sometimes you use that sliding to your advantage, and seriously, you're braver than you think. What about when you, me, and Dedede revived everyone in Subspace?"_

That sure brought back memories. They had regained consciousness in Dedede's castle, which was now absorbed into the depths of the mysterious dimension known only as "Subspace". It was thanks to Dedede, whose revival badges restored them after a set time. After reviving him too and getting some answers about what he did to save them, the three of them set off into the reaches of Subspace and fought through hordes of creepy monsters to revive the others, who had been scattered throughout the dimension after their crushing defeat at the hands of Tabuu's instant kill attack. More importantly, Lucas and Mario were among the fighters they revived, something that had made Luigi feel a lot better and had been the start of a great friendship for Ness. Technically it wasn't the start, but they were too busy fighting to talk much in their first meeting.

_"I wouldn't have made it without you two...what's Dedede up to now anyways?"_

_"He told me about a nice prank he's planning, but I can't tell anyone else. It's top secret!"_

_"Dedede and his pranks...they'll get him in trouble someday if he bothers the wrong people..." _Luigi shuddered at the thought of Dedede pranking one of the more intimidating fighters and one who couldn't take a joke. That would not end well...

_"I'm sure he'll be fine...what could go wrong?"_

* * *

While Ness and Luigi were talking, Rosalina spoke to Mario, having floated back to the starting line that the racers drove to, with Luma floating with her while Kirby flew by puffing himself up. Lucas and Ness also made it back by using PSI Teleport, while Pit just flew there, talking with Mario along the way. Rosalina appreciated the invitation to join the race, but had to turn it down.

"As much as I would love to join your race, it was my fault this child crashed here, and someone needs to take care of him."

Lucas flinched.

Of course, she was talking about Kirby. He knew that. Even so, it bothered him. As Rosalina prepared to leave with Kirby, Lucas realized he needed to follow her...

"W-wait!"

"...What is it, little one?"

"..." Lucas looked to Pit, then Ness, then back to Rosalina. Ness noticed, realizing he'd have to cut his telepathic conversation with Luigi short since they would be leaving soon.

_"I'd better get going. Bye!"_

Lucas wasn't sure how many minutes it had been, but Pit's power of flight was probably close to running out, and this lady must have had some way to fly back to her spaceship It was hard for Lucas to speak, but after an awkward silence he finally managed it.

"...Can we go with you? We...um..." Lucas got stuck, twiddling his thumbs as he tried to think of how to explain his reasons. Pit was insecure about his illiteracy, so saying he wanted to learn how to read wouldn't be good. There was another reason Lucas wanted to go, but he _definitely_ wasn't saying that out loud. Lucas ended up really embarrassed, his face going red as he was unable to think of anything...

"Your spaceship looks cool, so we wanna visit it!" Ness saved Lucas at the last minute, pointing to the comet in the distance with his baseball bat as he spoke.

"Of course, I would be happy to give you a tour." With a wave of her wand, Rosalina made a large orange star which looked like a small star inside a bigger star with a hollow center poof into existence out of nowhere, floating for no apparent reason as she pointed to it. "Just step into this Launch Star, and you'll be on your way there."

"Really..?" Ness looked doubtful as he stared at the strange looking star. It certainly didn't look like it would launch anything...

Mario thought otherwise. "Trust me, it a-works for sure!"

"Okay..." Ness jumped up and fell into it, and for a moment was surprised to find himself suspended in midair as he somehow floated inside the hollow center of the Launch Star, with the inner layer of the star separating from the outer as it moved downwards...then fell to the ground as nothing happened.

"...Nope."

"Try a-spinning!"

"Okay." Ness doubted it would work, but did it anyways. He jumped into the Launch Star and once again started floating, then spun himself in a circle horizontally in midair. He probably looked really stupid right now. There was no way this would do anyt-

"Huh?"

There was a spinning sound as his feet somehow stuck themselves to the inside layer of the star, which moved backwards while the outer one remained still and pointed towards the Comet Observatory at a diagonal angle. In utter defiance of gravity, he was standing up...diagonally. In fact the star's change was almost like a rubber band being stretched, with him on the stretched part right before it-

"WhoOoAaAAHHH!"

-snapped.

* * *

Flying through space was exhilarating once he got over the initial shock. Ness held his arms out to the sides, trying to see if he could veer left or right, but nothing happened. Weird. Even if his flight path was automatic, it was way better than hanging on to Pit.

"Wohoo! Space is awesome!"

It felt like being one of those comic book superheroes...Looking back, he saw the others weren't far behind. Pit was the least affected. This was no different from before, just with someone else guiding his flight path...He really wished he could fly on his own for once. Lucas had a similar reaction to Ness, just a little more frightened of being sent hurtling through space like this.

Before long, they could see the Comet Observatory more clearly: It looked nothing like an ordinary spaceship or comet. There was something that looked like an engine at the bottom and a spire that became narrower as it went upwards with several platforms circling around it, but there was also a large gap where nothing seemed to be holding the top and bottom parts together. In between them was a blue miniature sun too bright to look at for more than a moment...that was probably the power source.

There were plenty of areas to land on, with seemingly no outer layer to keep the place insulated from the void of space. Ness decided not to ask as he landed on a spot with an intricate design of concentric circles, near a larger circular area up ahead which had a decoration of six stars on the floor surrounding a larger seventh star. Beyond that was a holographic screen which thankfully blocked out some of the intense light from the miniature sun. There was a grassy area forward and to the left with some kind of dome, while the right side had a red carpet leading to a more rectangular building. And that wasn't even describing half of the Observatory.

"Whoa...this place sure is pretty. I've never seen a spaceship like this!" Ness was in awe as he looked around at the makeshift spaceship, and so was Lucas. It looked more like a home than a spaceship, and a comfy home too. It made sense since there were so many of those Lumas here...Rosalina floated gracefully down to the ground in front of them, carrying Kirby and the Luma with her before turning to the angel and psychic teenagers.

"Thank you...This is the Comet Observatory, my home and the home of the Lumas. You're free to stay as long as you like."

Lucas was surprised at Rosalina's hospitality, unable to look her in the eye. "Y-you're being too kind...we're veterans, so we already have homes." His home in the last tournament had been in the more rural area of Smashville, an environment more comfortable to him than the big city unlike Ness who was more used to the suburbs. Pit obviously lived with Palutena in her temple. Lucas was used to taking care of himself by now...but he appreciated the gesture.

Upon Rosalina's arrival, many high-pitched voices could be heard in response from the Lumas that lived in the observatory. A lot of them floated closer to the landing zone curiously as they looked at the newcomers. It was hard to hear them all since so many talked at once, but some of them said things like:

"Mama's back! Yay!"

"Who are those guys? They look weird..."

"One of them has wings like a bird!"

"Is that another Hungry Luma? We'd better find some Star Bits..."

"No way, he's too round to be a Luma!"

The most common color of Luma was yellow like the one they saw earlier, but there were some other colors too like blue, pink, green, and even one red one. Rosalina looked back to the star children and tried to calm down the many voices.

"Now, now, don't speak all at once...These are our guests, and I'm giving them a tour of our home. Please treat them well."

"Okay, Mama..."

Some of the Lumas looked a little dejected as they floated away to give them some space, but many still watched the newcomers as Rosalina led them around the observatory. They just kept a little more distance and tried not to be too loud as they chatted with each other about the strange visitors. Kirby had wandered off on his own, saying "Hiiii~" to the Lumas he approached. He ended up getting most of their attention and fortunately giving the others a breather.

Ness used that time to ask some more questions.

"So, what are all those tiny houses?" Ness pointed at the nearest one, which was a green dome near a sort of terrace in the (somehow) grassy area of the ship. It was one of six structures with the same shape: There was one on a floating island further to the left, another to the right of the rectangular building, one near the top of the spire, and two others that they couldn't see from this angle.

"Those round rooms are called Domes, and that one is the Terrace. From within these rooms, we use Star Power to project images of the distant stars and galaxies. But ever since that strange letter brought us to this universe, the Lumas and I have had to start creating new maps from scratch."

Rosalina had a nostalgic look in her eyes as she gazed at one of the floating islands in the Observatory, reminded of days longer ago than most could imagine. "It's as if I've become a young girl again, back when the starry skies were still a mystery to me..." That sense of wonder that had faded away so long ago had returned to her, making her feel more alive than she had in a long time.

"Uh...you don't look very old, Miss Rosalina." Lucas tilted his head in confusion. Rosalina was talking like an old lady, but she looked like a woman in only her late twenties, maybe thirties. And that simple blue dress, if it were red instead it would look like...no, he wasn't going to think about that.

Fortunately, Rosalina wasn't the type to be sensitive about her age. "At some point in my travels through space, my body stopped aging...Perhaps I ate too many Star Bits?" She giggled a little in that gentle, mature voice as she thought back to her past. That voice...it bothered him.

"What's a Star Bit?"

Pit answered for Ness, knowing a lot about Mario's space adventures. "They're tiny pieces of stars, like stardust, and they're food for the Lumas. I didn't think humans could eat them, though..." Maybe that explained how Rosalina got all her magic star powers and lived long enough to visit her home planet once every century.

_"Pit, you eat floor ice cream. This isn't much of a stretch."_

_"That's only because you put it there..."_

Rosalina looked back to the group when they were done asking questions, gesturing to the rest of the observatory with her wand.

"Now, shall I show you the rest of the observatory?"

"Of course!" Pit looked the most eager to see the place, having only heard Mario describe it until now. It was even better to see it in person.

* * *

They visited each of the domes one by one, starting with the Terrace. Once inside, they saw that the walls of the circular building were blue, with a painting of a castle, the surrounding plains, and the starry sky above on the ceiling of the dome. There was also a chair next to a telescope, but how would they see anything from within a building with no windows..?

Just then, another Luma floated into the room. It was black with blue eyes, and its voice wasn't quite as high pitched as the others when it spoke up. It was probably one of the older Lumas since it felt like explaining everything in Rosalina's place.

"Welcome! This dome acts as an eye of the observatory. From here, we can gaze upon distant galaxies."

Ness looked confused, wondering just how that worked. "So..how would we do that in a room with no windows?"

"Simply point your cursor at that Pull Star, and press A-that is, focus your will on it, and it will lift you up and show you the stars."

"...Okay." Ness had a hard time believing this stuff, but he'd seen crazier things. So he pointed his hand at the blue star above them, which then pulled him up with some tractor beam until he floated above the others and-

"What the..?! Am I just seeing things?!"

Somehow, Ness now had a bird's eye view of space, seeing the countless stars and constellations as well as a few images that seemed to stick out as if they were on a map and weren't drawn to scale. The ones he recognized the most were one that had a certain spaceship and another that showed a planet with lots of lava, perfect for stage hazards. The know it all Luma somehow appeared in Ness's galactic view too, pointing out some of the 'galaxies'.

"Like I said, this dome lets you see nearby galaxies. We've only mapped a few in this universe so far, but the closest one is the Barrel Roll Galaxy. Would you like to go there?"

"Pfft...Hahahaha! Man, who came up with that name? That was a good one..."

While Ness tried to calm down, Lucas pointed out what it actually was.

"It's called the Lylat System, and it's a solar system, not a galaxy..."

"What? Of course it's a galaxy."

Ness took over after that, having recovered by now.

"...I dunno what you call a galaxy, but I don't think we have the same definition, dude."

"...Since you asked, it was Lumalee who named it. I'll have to remind her to give more accurate names..."

"She sounds funny."

That was all for the Terrace.

* * *

The next dome they visited was the Fountain, located on a floated island west of the Terrace that they reached by using a sort of bridge of light that floated them there. It apparently had an endless water supply, since water flowed from the top of the building into two paths that fell endlessly into space off the sides of the floating island. Once again, he decided not to ask.

Once they were inside, Rosalina explained the nature of the room this time instead of her assistant (who was named Polari) who had gone elsewhere. Water flowed from the walls into a circular pool, which was more like a ring since a platform occupied the center.

"This is the Fountain. Like any other Dome it can be used to observe distant galaxies, and it is also a good place for relaxing or taking a bath."

With a wave of her wand, Rosalina made the center platform sink into the ground, allowing the water to fill the area so it was more like an actual bathtub.

Pit had an excited look as he dipped his foot into the water. It was very warm, and that meant one thing.

"A hot spring!"

They had a good time in the Fountain.

* * *

Once Pit was done telling Rosalina how much he liked hot springs, they went on to another area. Next up was one of the domes they couldn't see before since it was on the other side of the observatory, with a purple floor near it. It was also next to that rectangular building they had seen earlier.

"This is the Bedroom. It's the last Dome on the lower level, and also where I sleep."

"We probably shouldn't be in your room...seems kinda like a breach of privacy. And we didn't really come here just to look around." Ness looked at Pit expectantly, waiting for him to say the real reason they'd all flown to space other than because it was cool (which was also an important reason).

"I was hoping you could help me with something...I can't r-...uh..."

Ness said it for him. "Pit never learned how to read."

"Hey! I was gonna finish..."

"Just don't tell anyone, he's really insecure about it."

"Insecure? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Ok, go ahead and tell everyone."

"Please don't do that!"

There was a moment of silence as Pit sighed, wishing he didn't have to embarrass himself like this. Still, he had to learn it at some point or it would only be more awkward.

Rosalina smiled as the answered the two of them.

"I wouldn't mind teaching you how to read, and worry not, it will be our little secret. My storybook in the library has pictures, so you can read along as I read it to you."

And so, they departed to the Library.

* * *

At last, they had reached the library in the observatory so that Pit could learn how to read. Inside was a bookshelf full of books, one of which had a star on the cover. That was the one Rosalina read from as she sat down on a green chair while the trio used the two couches in the room. Luckily, there were a few extra copies of her storybook so that they could read along with her, mainly for Pit who was trying to figure out what the words meant. He had to look at the pictures to understand, at least for now.

"Let us begin!" Rosalina opened the book, starting to read the first chapter...

Chapter 1 was called "The Celestial Duo".

"Our story begins a very, very long time ago with a young girl..."

Rosalina went on to describe how the girl had found a rusted spaceship with a star child named Luma, who said he was waiting for his mama who would come to him on a comet. She promised to wait with him, but no matter how long she waited and watched the stars with her telescope, they never saw her...So she decided to venture out into the stars with Luma to go find her.

_A missing person, huh..._

The second chapter, 'Star Bits', was about their travels in space, where they ended lost in an asteroid belt with no planets in sight. The girl was hungry, and worried when she realized she had forgotten to bring water of all things. Luma laughed at this, which made her pout until he said how he would be ok as long as there were Star Bits. She tried them, and they were delicious.

_Wait...is that girl who I think it is..?_

Chapter 3, 'The Comet', involved how they found a shiny blue comet in space. Luma was excited, thinking he'd finally found his mother, but she was nowhere to be seen once they landed on the comet...Instead, the two of them spent some time on the comet, finding some Star Bits under the ice while they continued to search for Luma's mother as the comet went through space. At this point, Lucas was pretty sure who this girl was now that they were on a comet.

_That girl is definitely Rosalina._

The fourth chapter was about a dream the young Rosalina had. It was about her mother (who looked even more like Rosalina than the girl), who she asked where she was going...She said she wasn't going anywhere and was always watching over her. When Rosalina woke up, she was crying and Luma thought there were Star Bits in her eyes. She said they were tears, and that she was crying because she would never see her mother again. That made Luma cry too, since he missed his own mother.

_No..it can't be that...she's just saying she won't see her again because she doesn't know if she'll make it home, right?_

Lucas already felt like he knew how this would end...but he didn't want to believe it.

The rest of the chapter had Rosalina and Luma continue to travel through space on the comet, but they still saw no signs of Luma's mother no matter how many other comets they found. Luma was sad, but she tried to soothe him. She told him "I'll take care of you...", and felt a small spark in her heart.

In Chapter 5: Home, the girl worked hard on turning the comet into a real home, making many buildings with the tools and materials they'd found under the ice. When it was finally completed, the home somehow ended up much too big for only two people. She wished her brother, father, and mother were there too, since it felt too empty without them...

_I know that feeling..._

The sixth chapter was about Rosalina and Luma finding a small apricot colored planet, where they finally met another Luma which was also apricot-colored. Hoping the new Luma was Luma's mother, Rosalina asked in excitement if they knew each other. They stared at each other for a moment while circling around Rosalina...until one said "My mama!". The other said it right back twice...Except they weren't looking at each other, but at Rosalina. And then...every single Luma on the apricot planet floated over, also calling her 'mama'!

"Aww...that's so cute! They all think of her as their mom now..." Pit couldn't help but say it, overcome by the intense cuteness of the scene, even though he only sort of understood the words when he read them himself. "Sorry I interrupted..."

"It's all right. Now, back to the story..."

The chapter ended with the young Rosalina laughing, asking what she was going to do with so many children. Finally, she decided to name every one of them.

_I hope they're happy now..._

In Chapter 7: The Telescope, like the title implied, Rosalina used her father's telescope. She wanted to look back at her home planet now to see if it was still the same as before. Once she looked closely enough, she saw a familiar hill from her home. A hill where she remembered watching the stars with her father when she was a child. A hill she and her brother had fun going down on a sled. A hill she had enjoyed having picnics on with her mother.

But there was something else Rosalina remembered the hill for, too. Lucas started paying more attention to the next things Rosalina said while she read the story aloud.

"And..."

""I want to go home! I want to go home right now!" The girl burst into tears, and the Lumas didn't know what to do."

""I want to go home! I want to go back to my house on the hill! I want to see my mother!" The girl was shouting now, her face wet with tears."

Lucas's face was almost wet with tears too as he struggled to hold them back...Rosalina continued on with the story, turning the page again. She wasn't crying like the girl, but her voice matched the girl's perfectly as she read the story aloud...because anyone paying attention to the story knew by now that this girl was her younger self.

_Please don't be that...Anything but that..._

""But I know she's not there! I knew all along she wasn't out there in the sky! Because...because...""

_No no no no no no!-_

""She's sleeping under the tree on the hill!""

...

A hush fell over the area, both in the story and the library, once Rosalina was done with the chapter. Pit gasped as he realized what it meant...then sniffed, trying not to cry at how sad it was.

"Th-that's so sad..."

_"Pit, I think there are some Star Bits in your eyes..."_

_"I-I'm not crying, y-you're crying..!" Sniff..._

Ness was looking at Lucas, knowing how personal this story would be for him...He couldn't imagine losing his own mother, but he knew his friend could do more than just imagine. He could remember.

[Lucas couldn't stop crying.]

Lucas got up from his seat as he tried to speak, stuttering with a voice shaky from all the tears running down his face.

"M-my m-mom...she's...she's..."

Rosalina closed the book and stood up, having a look of empathy in her eyes...

"She's sleeping under the sunflowers in the field!"

The boy's cries echoed through the stars, and a hush fell over the area.

Rosalina floated over to the distressed boy, understanding his pain perfectly.

"You'll be all right...I'm here. And I'm sure your mother is watching you from beyond the stars, too..."

[Rosalina embraced Lucas.]

Lucas sobbed into Rosalina's shoulder, unable to say anything as he let out the tears he held back so much. It'd been so long since someone had hugged him like this...like a mother would.

"...I'll take care of you."

With those words, she felt a small spark in her heart.

The Luma who had been silent until now finally spoke up as he looked at his mother...

"Mama...there are Star Bits in your eyes again!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Family

(Author's Note: Just going to explain a few things with my writing style to make sure it's clear:

"This is for normal dialogue."

_This is for thoughts, usually Lucas's thoughts._

"_This is for telepathic messages. If this is in response to itallics only, it's probably a case of mind reading. So unfair!"_

[This is for types of things that would appear in a game, like [It's super effective!] or [Lucas tried PK Love Ω!].]

[THIS IS FOR ROBOTS WHO TALK LIKE ROBOTS. BEEP BOOP.]

"**THIS IS FOR SCARY THINGS."**

"tHiS iS fOr CrAaAaAaAzY pEoPlE!"

Once again, I don't own Super Mario Galaxy or Rosalina's storybook which the last few chapters of will be referenced here. Sorry this chapter took so long, but in return it's basically a double chapter!)

In the reaches of space, some of the Smash Brothers found that the rules in the starry skies were not the same as they were used to. There was no air, but they could still breathe. There shouldn't have been anything to carry sound, but they could still hear. On a certain comet turned spaceship, they could do both of those and even stand up in normal gravity. There was nothing visibly insulating the grounds of the observatory from the void of space, but despite that they could still feel that the library was a relaxing room temperature thanks to what could only be described as 'magic'.

And so, even in space, Lucas could still cry.

He couldn't stop for a while after hearing the story of Rosalina, who was now hugging Lucas and saying she would take care of him...which only made it worse. Why did she have to be so nice to him? Why did she have to sound just like, and act just like...someone else? The similarity made both his voice and body shaky as he finally let go, wiping away the tears that had been streaming down his face, which was now flushed red with embarrassment as he looked back to the others. For a moment he had forgotten they were there.

"S-sorry...I didn't mean to be such a c-crybaby..." He went back to the couch he sat on as he apologized, feeling very awkward now that they had seen him break down like that.

Ness tried reassuring him. "Don't worry, buddy...it's ok to cry, and we won't tell anyone. Right, Pit?"

"Yeah...I'll keep your secret if you keep mine." Pit nodded in response, reminded of the two times he had come close to losing Lady Palutena, who was the closest he had to a mother. She had been kidnapped by Medusa a long time ago, and more recently was controlled by the Chaos Kin until he freed her...He shuddered at the thought of losing her forever. Then he looked back to Rosalina, who had returned to her chair and reopened the storybook.

"My story isn't over yet...Don't worry, it has a happy ending."

And so, Rosalina began reading from her book again, starting with Chapter 8: The Wish.

"Though usually quite cheery, one day the girl became sad again. Luma drew close and tried to comfort her."

""Mama, you still have me! And don't be sad about your mama, because she's a part of you! That means she's always close by!""

""It's like me. I love Star Bits because they remind me of my mama.""

_...and I like sunflowers._

Rosalina went on with her narration, describing how Luma then had an idea. He suddenly shone with energy and flew into the ground, transforming it into a comet that would carry them through the stars. The girl was in awe as the other Lumas explained how it was their destiny to transform into comets, planets, or even stars. Then, all of them together told her "No more crying, Mama!". She thanked the Lumas and pulled them in close for a hug...

"From that day on, Star Bits no longer fell from the girl's ey-" Rosalina stopped herself suddenly, then held her hand to her mouth as she giggled slightly. "I suppose that isn't true anymore, is it?"

"So you ARE the girl! I knew it!" Pit sounded proud of himself as he exclaimed his realization.

"That was super obvious since chapter 3...try reading between the lines, dude."

"What? There's nothing between the lines..."

Ness burst into laughter in response, and so did Palutena, but only Pit heard her over their telepathic link.

"It means try to get the meaning, not just the words."

"That's easy for you; it's hard enough to read the words!" Pit sighed, realizing he had a lot left to learn.

After a moment of silence, Rosalina went back to reading the story, finally on the last chapter of the book. This one was called "Family". In it, the comet continued on its journey back to the girl's home planet, and the girl took a moment to think to herself during a welcoming party for a new Luma. What she thought was:

""This is my family now, and I will stay with them until they're ready to leave the nest. And when they do, I'll see them off with a smile.""

""Because that's what makes a mother happiest.""

_No...I'm not gonna cry again..._

As Rosalina wrapped up the story, Lucas managed to avoid crying, barely. The girl's dress had become blue, and the comet continued to carry her and her new family throughout the stars to this day, visiting her home planet every hundred years. The End.

"That's all. My story is finished." Rosalina closed the storybook, making it float back into the bookshelf with a wave of her wand. Lucas thought to himself silently while Ness looked at Pit, who was the reason they had gone here in the first place.

"That was a great story...and really sad. I don't think I can read that well yet, though...Would it be alright if I borrowed some of your books and brought them back to Lady Palutena's temple?"

"Of course, I wouldn't mind donating some. Just be sure to bring them back later!" Rosalina got up from her seat, floating over to the bookshelf as she looked through the many rows of books and tried to find some suitable for children who were just learning to read...or illiterate adults in Pit's case.

"Let's see..."Reading For Children"..."Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker"..."Paper Mario"..."Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door"..."Super Paper Mario"..."...She listed more books besides those, making each book she mentioned float off the bookshelf and into the air, causing them to open as their pages fluttered past. Then all of them closed, lined up vertically, and dropped from the air onto Pit, who nearly fell over as he caught them all and wobbled on his feet trying not to drop any of them. The one on top fell off, but it was caught in a magic sphere by Rosalina and gently levitated back on top of the others.

Pit barely managed to balance the stack of books as he carried them with both hands near his waist. There were so many that they almost reached his chin, enough to give him something to read for possibly the entire tournament. He would've scratched the back of his head in embarrassment since they were all children's books, but if he did that he would have dropped them. Even so, he was very grateful they'd done so much to help him overcome his lack of such a basic skill.

"You guys went all the way to space just to help me learn to read...I really owe you one!"

"You know, I had a match to get to too, and I wanted to go to space anyways..." Ness then put on a devious smirk. "But if you say so, now I can make you do something dumb in the future!"

"HEY! Is this what I get for being nice?!"

"Don't worry, he doesn't mean it..."

"Sure he doesn't...Anyways, I'd better get going. Lady Palutena, beam me u-"

"Wait, don't go yet!"

"Why not? Oh, you mean I should say goodby-"

"No, we should take a group picture first!"

"...Right. You always do that." Pit remarked on a habit Ness had started ever since the second tournament. Not that Pit was there, but that was what he heard from Mario. It had all begun when Ness realized at the end of the first tournament that he wouldn't have a photo album for it like in his own adventure since there was no magic cameraman...So from then on, he decided to do it himself, taking pictures every once in a while both for his own experiences in the tournament and always one big group photo for all the fighters at the end of each tournament...

Yes, even Ganondorf.

Ness took off his backpack for once and put it on the couch, reaching into it for a moment to pull out a camera typical for the year 199X. He took a second to focus and used his PSI to telekinetically float it onto the bookshelf at a spot where it was facing them while he moved over to the others to be in the picture himself. "Okay, everyone stand close together and smile for the camera!" Ness stood in the center of the camera's view, with Lucas to his left, Pit to his right, and Rosalina standing behind him with her Luma floating next to her, with her face still visible since she was easily a head taller than Ness.

"Now say...'fuzzy pickles'!"

All of them smiled for the camera while Ness made a peace sign...but he also did something else. Just then, he grabbed Pit with his other hand and pulled him in, causing the stack of books to go flying as Pit's shocked face was forever recorded on the photo.

"What was that for?!"

"Ahahaha..! Sorry, I couldn't resist. _Now_ we're even."

"I swear you'll regret th-!" _Poof_. Pit was cut off as his goddess beamed him away in a pillar of light, bringing all the scattered books back to the temple along with him.

Ness held his chin quizzically. "Hey Lucas, are you sure she's not the goddess of time instead? Because that was spot on!"

Lucas couldn't help chuckle a little. Like always, Ness helped take his mind off of what was bothering him. Enough that he even joined in on the humor. "Hehe...maybe you're right, but you shouldn't be so mean to Pit. You gotta spare him at least a little _Pit-y_..."

Ness clutched his hat as if his brain had exploded (metaphorically), and his eyes were wide with surprise. "AHA! So _that's_ what he's named after...This explains so much! People say I'm a comedian, but you're a genius!"

Lucas scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Thanks...but there's no way he was named after that..." He realized then that his hairdo had been messed up by all the zero gravity and high speed flight...

"You sure? It checks out."

"Uh..."

"I certainly hope not. I would never name a Luma after something so pitiful..."

Ness and Lucas turned around, looking back at Rosalina. Then Ness looked back to Lucas, then at Rosalina again, then back to Lucas. His eyebrows raised a little as a realization came to him...

"You're right, that would be a pity. We did what we came here for and helped Pit learn to read, so I'd better go...It's kinda hard to tell up here in space, but I think right now the time is 'late o clock'. Bye!"

"Um...Wai-!" Just as Lucas spoke up, Ness had already left, taking his camera with him. The Luma was gone too, probably to go outside where Kirby and the other Lumas were. Lucas sighed, since it felt like Ness was just finding an excuse to leave. _Am I that boring..? _Everyone else had left the library...leaving only him and Rosalina.

* * *

_Phew. I got out of there just in time._

Ness stood at the entrance to the observatory as he looked back at the Library. He could have stuck around, but something told him he needed to go before Lucas pulled him back into the conversation. That lady's story told a lot about her childhood that sounded familiar to Ness. There were some differences, but it was close enough that she could relate to what his friend had been through and maybe help him...

_Unlike me._

Ness had once thought he was incredibly unlucky. It certainly wasn't fun being chosen by some random prophecy which put the fate of the whole world on his and a few friends' shoulders in their quest to destroy some incomprehensible and all powerful monster named Giygas and its forces of evil (with little to no help from adults). All those battles against the alien invaders and a former friend were very stressful and painful, but he could always call his mom, dad, or his little sister when he was scared or homesick...He changed his mind about what bad luck meant when he met Lucas.

A sound distracted him from that unpleasant train of thought. It sounded like 'denim denim denim', and came from behind him. Ness turned around, seeing a green pipe suddenly emerge from the ground and a familiar plumber jumping out of it.

"Yahoo!" It was Mario, who did a flip in midair before landing next to Ness.

Ness looked over to the green pipe, which remained where it appeared. It obviously wasn't connected to any actual plumbing within this observatory since it had appeared out of nowhere. Instead, it acted as an interdimensional gateway to other similar pipes throughout the fabric of space. They were handy for warping to distant places, which is where the name came from.

"You built another Warp Pipe already? I think that might be a new record."

"Thanks, but I was already a-working on it before the race."

"Right, the race...So who took home the gold?"

Mario shook his head in disappointment. "You're psychic, why don't you take a guess?"

Ness didn't need to use his PSI for this one. "…It was Doug, wasn't it?" Instead he took his best guess, based on all his past experiences in the tournaments.

"Wahoo…you got it. Some people say I'm a-talented at racing, but mama mia, he makes us all look like Cheep-Cheeps out of water!"

"You're talented at almost everything...It's only fair that Doug gets his boost power."

Ness had gotten to know his fellow red hat wearer pretty well over the past three tournaments. He might have had the most skills of anyone there, since his many talents included construction, plumbing, medicine, tennis, golf, soccer, baseball, basketball, racing, refereeing, luck-based party games, all types of Olympic competitions, fire magic, cleaning, space travel, verbal tics, fighting…and above all, acrobatics.

"Maybe you're a-right...You know, you're not the only one who guessed he would win. The new kid says he predicted it by seeing the future! Hmm...what was his a-name again? Was it Sulk or Hulk..?"

"It's Shulk, and I think he might be right. He took the words right out of my mouth once..."

"I don't a-know about that...He might have a few screws loose, if you know what I mean. He's said some strange things, and that's a-coming from me. He says we'll meet a cat who can do lariats, all of us will invade some creepy fortress, and he even said one day the sky will crack open like an egg! If that's not crazy, I don't a-want to know what is."

"And I thought _you_ were the one on magic mushrooms."

"Hahahaha!…Don't ever a-change, kid."

* * *

Back in the library, it was just Lucas, Rosalina, and an awkward silence. No one else to talk to, no one watching, and no one listening. Lucas couldn't bring himself to say what he was thinking of first, so the silence persisted. He'd need a Beam Sword to cut through the tension if it got any thicker...

_She's lived hundreds of years, so she should know..._

"Listen, little one...I understand. The pain may not go away entirely, but it does get better."

Lucas jumped back in surprise. "Eh?! Did you just...I th-thought I was the mind reader!"

Rosalina shook her head and smiled softly in return. "Does a mother need psychic powers to know how her children feel?"

Lucas's heart skipped a beat again. "B-but I'm n-not your son!" Then it sped up to a few times faster than normal.

"Neither were the Lumas before I found them. I have many children already...but there's always room for one more."

"No...d-don't say that...I already have a m-mom, and she's...she's..."

[Rosalina embraced Lucas again.]

Lucas returned the embrace. But even though no one was watching, he didn't cry, because he was already out of tears.

"I would never pretend to replace your mother...I know too well no one can. Just know that whatever you choose, there will always be a home waiting for you here..."

"W-why are you being so nice to me?! Stop it...I d-didn't do anything for you..!"

"...Because I wish someone had done the same for me."

"Oh..." Finally, he let go of the hug, taking a small step back as Rosalina spoke up again.

"Listen. Do you remember what I said before? The pain of losing someone may not go away, but it only would if you stopped loving them...It may not become smaller, but your heart can grow beyond it. It was finding a new family that helped me move on...Have you met anyone you can call family? "

"Y-yeah...I still have my dad..." Lucas thought back to how ever since the day he finally found Claus and pulled the final needle, his father, Flint, no longer neglected him by spending all his time searching for Claus. He still visited _that place _every day, but for the rest of the time he was a lot more caring.

"But there's also my friends back home..." Lucas knew there was no way he could have handled his journey to save the island and ultimately the world from the Pigmasks and their Chimeras both physically and emotionally if not for his friends Kumatora and Duster, and of course his dog Boney. There were others he'd made friends with on the island too, like the members of the DCMC band Duster joined, Nana the girl who talked a lot, and Rope Snake (or as he now called himself, Snake Rope) the rope-like snake who had got them out of a few places when they were stuck. That wasn't close to everyone he'd met, but he was too shy to make lots of friends unlike some more outgoing people.

"...and I made some friends here, too. I just wish they were all invited this time..." Ness had been his friend ever since that day he saved him, and so was Red soon after that...He really missed Red. He also missed the Ice Climbers, who he'd also gotten along with as some of the few other kids his age. At least Toon Link was still around...

"The letter I received did not say this tournament would be the last, so hopefully they will return for the next."

"I hope so, but Master Hand's really weird...I can never tell what he's thinking." He thought back to what Ness said once. It was hard to say whether a 'cut' fighter would return or not, since Master Hand was often very vague and secretive about his decisions and reasons for them. He wasn't clearly evil unlike _some _of the fighters, but he wasn't outright good either considering he saw no problem inviting said fighters...Above all, he was mysterious, and Lucas had no idea why.

"Perhaps in a decade or so, you could start your own family. Give or take a few years."

Lucas's face went bright red. "Wh-what?!" He had gotten 'the talk' from his dad in the year since his adventure ended, but it didn't make this kind of subject any less embarrassing. "Um...th-that might be short for you, but that's a long time for me...and I doubt anyone would l-ike me like that anyways..." He twiddled his thumbs as he wondered if anyone actually did 'like' him...no, no way.

Rosalina giggled in that familiar voice again. "Now, now, I was only teasing..." She gave Lucas's head a little pat to reassure him, and noticed how his usual hairstyle was replaced with what would be described as bedhead if he had just woke up. "My, your hair has gotten all messy. That just won't do, will it?"

Lucas stepped away, slightly startled. He put his hand in his hair for a bit, trying to adjust at least a little closer to normal. "I'm fine, really...I can comb my own hair. I left the comb at home...I should go." Lucas's hair was unruly and difficult to comb, but he never let anyone else do it for him. Not anymore. He ran out of the library...then stopped just before he was out the doorway.

"Thanks, Miss Rosalina..."

He left the area, not turning back again.

* * *

_It's getting late...I should head home and get some sleep..._

From the Observatory, Lucas looked off into space and back towards the planet that served as their home away from home. Based on which side was currently facing the sun, he figured out it was about time to get some sleep. He got ready to use PK Teleport, but at the last moment slid to a stop and prevented himself from warping away. He remembered how badly he failed in teleporting the last time he tried, even though he usually succeeded. It gave him enough hesitation to change his mind.

_I guess it wouldn't hurt to explore the rest of the observatory first._

Looking back to the observatory, Lucas didn't see Ness anywhere, only a new Warp Pipe near the entrance. He must have left already...All that was left to do was to check the other rooms he hadn't visited yet. Other than the Bedroom which he didn't want to go to, there were three other domes he had yet to enter: One across the bridge from the Library's roof, a more metallic dome that he couldn't see since it was on the other side of the cone area with floating platforms above the ship's core, and another even further up on the spire part of the cone. There was a strange red platform on the ground near Lucas that was connected to a somehow curved beam that went from it to another similar platform which was up on those floating platforms near the metal dome. It was the same type of thing that brought them over to the island with the Fountain earlier. Lucas cautiously stepped into it...

"Whooaa!" The beam of light somehow carried him up in an arc, bringing him up to the other red platform and much higher up on the ship. It was just like the one that brought them to the Fountain earlier...Now he was on a metal platform which along with several others surrounded the cone-like structure in the center in a sort of 'C' shape. There was a pink Luma floating nearby, talking to a yellow Luma as they looked over to the Kitchen dome.

"Can you believe it? That new Hungry Luma ate thousands of Star Bits before he was full! And then he transformed and got a wand that can do magic just like Mama...he's sooo dreamy..."

The other Luma had an annoyed look...Jealous, even. "How many times do I have to say it, he's _not _a Hungry Lu-huh?" The yellow Luma stopped himself suddenly as they both turned to see Lucas. "Oh, you're the new kid...I guess we should show you around." With his stubby little arms, he pointed to the area these metal platforms were surrounding. "That there's the Engine Room, and it powers the whole observatory! Wanna see it? I'm one of the Lumas who keeps it running, by the way." His arms were too small and stubby to cross them, and like Waddle Dees Lumas had no mouths, but the look in his eyes seemed proud, even a little smug...

"...I'll pass. Sorry, but I don't like machines..." Lucas made an understatement.

"Lame..." The yellow Luma pouted and looked away with a disappointed face.

The pink Luma took over the conversation, waving up at the equally pink platform further above them. "Then I'm sure you'll like the Garden! You just have to go over to the Gate first to get there...you can't jump _that _high, can you?" The same curved beams of light from before connected this area to the floating island with the 'gate', and another one went from there to the platform above, so that was the only way up...unless he used PK Thunder, but there was no need.

"Thanks...I'll go over there first."

Lucas stepped into the beam, which carried him a long distance to the floating island with what looked like a tiny, one-room house on it. On the way there, he almost got hit by Kirby, who went flying past him as if he'd been launched by a Launch Star. Based on the wand he now had, he probably made that Launch Star himself...Lucas might have been jealous of how Kirby could do practically anything with the right meal if he wasn't so cute.

It was strange how small the house seemed to be from the outside. Now that he thought about it, it was like that for the domes too...

_Is it just me, or are these things..._

Lucas entered the doorway and stepped into the 'house'...

_bigger on the inside?!_

and walked onto a miniature planet on the other side.

* * *

Once he recovered from the initial shock, Lucas looked behind and found the house still there behind him. It turned out it was actually a portal to wherever this ridiculously tiny planet was. It was small enough that someone could walk around it in about a minute. As he explored the planet, Lucas found it was mostly green and grassy with several fields of flowers, a circle of rocks, some small ponds, and a few other one-room houses. What stood out the most was the large platform with on one end of the planet. It was bigger than the other buildings and was circular in shape, having an exotic starry design. It took a jump and a double jump to reach the top of it. Once on top of it he noticed the same red Luma from earlier...

"Wow...Mama must really trust you to let you go here. Well, how about this? If you grab all 100 Purple Coins here, you'll earn my trust too."

"Purple coins? I don't see any pu-" Just then, a hundred purple coins appeared throughout the planet. Some were on the ground, some were on rooftops, and others magically floated in the sky, encased in bubbles in a ring around the planet's atmosphere.

"Oh...But how do I reach those ones in the sky? I can't jump that high..."

Then, another item appeared out of nowhere: a red star slightly larger than the Red Luma himself, and not as round.

"This Red Star can help with that. It has the power of the Red Lumas like me, and what's really amazing about it is it lets you fly after you spin in midair. Yes, FLY!"

"Wow...that's amazing! So how do I use it?"

"That's easy, just touch it. I'll let you use it in the Observatory too if you can get all the Purple Coins."

Lucas did as he said and reached down to the star on the ground, trying to pick it up. The moment he touched it, it disappeared into his hands, causing a glow to overtake his body as his outfit suddenly changed color. Now the yellow and orange stripes on his shirt became yellow and black, making him look like a bee...

[You transformed into Flying Lucas! Spin when jumping to fly!]

Lucas felt a strange energy throughout his body, and for a moment he swore he heard some kind of theme music. He wasn't sure whether to believe this would work, but he'd seen much stranger things by now, so he jumped and then double jumped to spin in midair.

_It actually works..!_

Spinning in midair made Lucas defy gravity and soar through the planet's small atmosphere, causing whatever energy made him fly to glow in his hands and leave red trails of light behind them. And it wasn't just the kind of automated flight caused by a Launch Star: He soon found he could control his movement in a way not so different from how he used PSI to double jump by using telekinesis on himself, giving him total freedom of movement in the air. He could fly in any direction or even levitate in place if he wanted, making it easy to start collecting all the Purple Coins in the ring around the planet's atmosphere. Most importantly, it was just plain fun.

"This is amazing..! I'm really flying!"

_I'd better not tell Pit...he'd be so jealous!_

Lucas flew around the plant and started grabbing the purple coins in bubbles, finding that they just disappeared when he touched them. It was a lot easier than having to carry so many coins. He missed a few the first time, but he picked them up in his second flight around the unusually small planet. He noticed some other Red Stars on the ground, but why bother getting them when he already had one?

He found out the hard way when the Red Star's flight power suddenly ran out, making him fall headfirst into the dirt as his outfit returned to normal.

"Ow..."

It didn't hurt that much, since he'd survived much worse falls, but it was still embarrassing as he had to pull his head out of the grass...

"Why didn't you tell me it would run out like that?!" Lucas called out the red Luma, frustrated that he wasn't warned as he tried to get the dirt and grass out of his already messy hair.

If the Luma had a mouth, it would be in a mischevious smirk. "Hehehe...I didn't say it would last forever, did I? What do you think all the spares out there are for?"

"..." Lucas facepalmed, wishing he'd realized it earlier. At least now he had already collected all the purple coins that needed flight to reach...

The rest of the coins only took around a minute to collect, made easier by using the other Red Stars to fly and grab the ones on rooftops and rocks. He also found out that spinning in midair somehow pulled the nearby coins to him like a magnet, which was how he got the last few coins. He had lost count at this point, but the red Luma hadn't.

"That's all of them! Nice job. I'd give you a Power Star as a reward, but I already gave it away to Mario a while ago...But you can use my Red Star in the Observatory now if you want. It's pretty neat, isn't it?"

"Yeah...kind of tiring, though. I think I'll take a little break."

A tired Lucas went to one of the small houses, lying down in a conveniently empty bed there and closing his eyes. Surely no one would mind if he took a little nap...

It was not, in fact, a nap.

* * *

Chapter 7.5: Hello Mr. Save Frog, Please Help Me Remember My Adventures!

Lucas would not wake up until the next morning when the same red Luma gave him a few pokes in the cheek.

"Wake up, sleepyhead! It's 10 AM and you've got a match in an hour!"

His eyes still closed, Lucas swung his hand blindly as if trying to shut off an alarm clock. "Nngh...just five more minutes..." His arm hit nothing but air.

The red Luma gave that mischevious look again. "Alright, the hard way then!" Not that Lucas could see it.

He created another Red Star and promptly dropped it right on Lucas. It was as effective as a bucket of water dumped on his face, except the water was the red flight energy forcing his body awake.

"WUAHH!" Lucas practically jumped out of bed, which unfortunately made him start floating in midair with the Red Star's power, knocking all the bedsheets loose. Any dreams he had were soon forgotten thanks to the sudden awakening.

Lucas flailed about in midair as he tried to get his balance, grabbing at the Luma in an irritated retaliation. He missed.

A frown came over his face. "What was that for? Can't you let me sleep?!" He rubbed his tired eyes, wishing he could sleep a little longer...

"Didn't you hear me? You slept in so long that there's only an hour left to get ready for your match. The clock's ticking, you lazy bum!"

"WHAT?! Ahhh!" Lucas panicked and flipped through the air, looking around frantically for his stuff...None of it was here, since this wasn't his room. Then he remembered.

"Crap...I was only supposed to take a nap here...What's my next match?" He prayed to whatever gods lived in this mish-mashed world that it would not be too difficult of a matchup when he had so little time to prepare. He considered praying to Palutena, but realized she was one of the possible opponents...and one that he wanted to avoid fighting at all costs.

"Nothing to worry about...Just an 'Eight Player Smash'."

"What?! There can't be 8 people in one fight..!"

"Oh, but there can! Didn't you hear? It's one of the new rules for this tournament. You're in a 4 on 4 team battle on Pokemon Stadium."

Lucas sighed, wishing he didn't get blindsided by new rules like this. "Ugh...at least I have more teammates too. Who are they anyways?"

"Two of them are animals, but I can't remember their names...That dragon, the mouse, and the robot..I think it was named Metroid. It has tons of weapons, but it can't craw-"

"She's a girl, not a robot, and her name's Samus!"

"Really? Seems like a guy in a spacesuit to me."

"You just said she was a robot..."

"Hmph, how would you know anyways?"

"I've seen her in her Zero Suit."

"Zero suit? Mama says we're not supposed to look at naked humans, you pervert!"

Lucas's face flushed red. "N-not like that! It's just a suit called 'Zero Suit'..." Lucas scratched the back of his head in embarrassment...because of that, he realized he had a horrible case of bedhead.

"Ah, my hair's so messy...I can't go out in public like this! But I don't have a comb to fix it..."

"No problem. Just leave that to me as I..."

He suddenly glowed brightly and flew up into the sky, leaving trails of light spiraling behind him...

"TRANS-FOOOOORM!"

POOF! In a flash of light, the star child became...a red comb?! It fell right onto Lucas, who caught it with a shocked expression.

[You got the Star Comb! Use it to fix any hairstyle with ease!]

"What was that?! You're still ok, r-right...?" For a moment, Lucas got really worried as he held the comb, but he realized there was no way he would do something like this if it was fatal...hopefully.

Sighing, Lucas decided he might as well make use of what this Luma had turned into. He looked into the mirror and started combing his hair...It was so messy it would take minutes to get it back to its usual sty-

[Lucas's hair was combed.]

In an instant, Lucas's messy hair somehow rearranged itself back to its usual style, cowlick and all. It was also perfectly clean again.

"What?! Is this thing magic too..?" Lucas was so surprised he ended up dropping the comb, causing it to go poof and disappear. He gasped, afraid the Luma had just met an unfortunate fate...but a little while later, he just poofed back into existence, returning to how he was before.

"H-how? You just...came back!"

"Yeah, so? We all get reborn eventually. I thought that was obvious."

Lucas's jaw dropped as he was left in stunned silence. To think these Lumas could come back to life so easily...He knew about it from the book, but it still confused him. Of course, he would have felt terrible if he actually died, it was just very strange to see him come back like that...

"You'd better head back to the Observatory; Mama cooked breakfast in the Kitchen and it'll go cold if you wait."

Once Lucas jaw and mind were recovered, he headed back through the gateway to the observatory. But not before asking one more question.

"Okay...what's your name, by the way?"

"It's Red. I know, not very original..."

"...I think it's a great name."

* * *

One beam elevator, double jump, and PK Thunder later, Lucas arrived at the Kitchen dome in a hurry. It was a small, comfy room with a star-shaped table near a warm fireplace. One strange thing was that there were no chairs, since the table was pretty low to the floor, so he had to sit down next to it. The floor wasn't too uncomfortable, though. What was truly strange was that the table already had a cup of milk, a fork, and a plate with...

"Omelettes? My favorite!" He started eating it right away, unable to resist his favorite food. As he was eating, a question was ironically eating away at him too. Metaphorically, of course.

_How did she know? Is Rosalina psychic too? Or did someone tell her? The only one who was here who would know is..._

"NESS!" Lucas almost choked on his food as he thought out loud. He more carefully ate the rest after that, then drank the milk as he wondered about this situation.

_But why would he do that..?_

The answer eluded Lucas even after he was done eating. He would have preferred to take his time instead, but he ate it in a hurry since time was running out even now. He had more important things to worry about, like how to prepare for this fight in such a short time.

_I'd better at least meet my teammates. The Luma said they were Samus, a dragon and a mouse...that has to mean Pikachu and Charizard. Perfect!_

He remembered how Samus had basically become Pikachu's trainer in the battles against Subspace, and Red had entrusted Charizard to Lucas since he couldn't join this tournament himself. Charizard was a stubborn Pokemon and insisted he could take care of himself like the other wild Pokemon here, but Lucas had to at least help him in team battles...Once he was done putting away the dishes, Lucas went outside once more.

_Wait, how did that Luma know what my matchups are?_

He soon found the answer when he jumped back down to the entrance of the Observatory. The holographic screen there normally displayed charts of distant galaxies, but now it was being used to display the day's tournament battles. How convenient. Rosalina was currently looking at it to see her own upcoming battle, which was a free for all with no items against Bayonetta, Ike, and Bowser Jr on Castle Siege.

"Miss Rosalina..?" She turned around to see Lucas, who looked nervously at that matchup. "Um..that Bayonetta lady has some really scary magic. She can summon these huge demon limbs and even slow down time! So...just be careful. And thanks for the omelette..."

"Worry not, little one...I have some magic of my own to defend myself." She waved her wand to show some of that power, creating a Star Bit and making a gravitational field that sucked it in...She could easily deflect most projectiles with that. "I will be fine, so focus on your own battle."

Lucas smiled as he looked at the list of matchups. "Ok..." Soon enough, he found out who he was up against, and that smile turned upside down.

"Oh no...I'm up against Mewtwo...Red said he's the world's strongest Pokemon!" Lucas had never fought Mewtwo since he wasn't in the third tournament, but he had heard the rumors. That he was made to be a psychic stronger than even the legendary Mew, but turned against his creators and destroyed their entire lab in an instant...He shivered at the thought of trying to compete with that immense psychic power with his own. The other enemies were Lucario, Jigglypuff, and Greninja. It was strange that almost everyone in this fight was a Pokemon...

Rosalina put a hand on his shoulder as she reassured Lucas. "I don't know what a Pokemon is, but I do know how to work together to overcome a greater foe. When the universe was in peril, Mario relied on my aid to reach the Power Stars, and I relied on him collecting them to restore the Observatory to its full power. Together we were able to reach Bowser's galaxy reactor and end his tyrannical rule over the cosmos. If you trust in your teammates as well, I'm certain you will succeed in defeating this 'Mewtwo'."

Lucas smiled, feeling just a little less terrified. "Thanks...I'll go find them so we can get ready." He got ready to start running and use PK Teleport...

Until the assistant Luma from yesterday spoke up. "Wait, don't leave yet, young lad! Power Star or no Power Star, no mission is complete without a mission name! It's a tradition we've had ever since that plumber helped us." He certainly acted like an old Luma.

"Uh...ok." He stopped running, looking back at the old Luma named Polari.

"Let's see...Your greatest foe is that strange-looking cat, correct? Mewwho, wasn't it?"

"...It's Mewtwo."

"Right, of course! Hmm...Then your mission name shall be...Mewtwo's Merciless Melee!"

"Are you _sure_ he won't show any mercy..?" It made Lucas cringe a little since Mewtwo being merciless was exactly what he didn't want.

Polari looked back at the holographic screen, specifically the picture of Mewtwo in the matchups list. "My, don't you see that cold, remorseless look in his eyes? Don't be a fool! Now then, off you go. You'll be late if you dally any longer!"

Lucas sighed. _Ok, Grandpa..._

With a wave of her wand, Rosalina made another Launch Star appear for Lucas to use on his return trip. She must have not known he could teleport.

"Don't worry about what he says too much, little one. I know it may be difficult, but I believe in you. No matter what happens, I'll be proud as long as you do your best!"

"Thanks..."

A jump and a spin later, Lucas was sent flying through space once more, on his way back to the earth.

* * *

The flight back to the World of Trophies went a lot more smoothly than the trip to space. No obstacles got in the way, and he didn't have to stop anywhere along the way. Some unknown force prevented Lucas from burning up in the atmosphere as he went through it, and he had a great view of the vast landscape below.

The only problem was where he landed. As he closed in on an area near the Pokemon Stadium they would be fighting in, Lucas got close enough to see two Pokemon sparring against each other. One an unusually tall frog, the other a somewhat humanoid dog with spikes on its hands. He couldn't control the Launch Star's flight path, and it was sending him right at them as they fought..!

"Ahhhh! Watch out!"

"Ninja?!" The surprised frog said part of his name like all Pokemon did and jumped away just in time, while his sparring partner faded away into a bunch of afterimages and instinctively counterattacked the incoming projectile, kicking Lucas right after he landed, knocking him into Greninja which sent them both rolling on the ground.

"Ow..." Lucas managed to get off of the frog, rubbing his head in pain. "Sorry, I didn't mean to land on you guys...Are you ok?" He quickly used his PSI to heal himself and Greninja.

[Lucas tried Lifeup Ω.]

The somewhat humanoid frog got up quickly and nodded, recovered from his injuries. Lucas had a strange look as he stared at the frog...

"Wait...you're a save frog! It's been so long since I talked to one...I need to tell you about my adventures so I don't forget!"

"Nin..?" Greninja had a confused expression, adjusting the scarf around his neck as he looked at the human boy around the age a typical trainer would start their journey. Actually, that scarf was his tongue.

_What is this human talking about..?_

"I'm talking about...never mind, I guess you aren't one. Sorry, Mr Frog..." Lucas looked away, embarrassed he'd mistaken a Pokemon for a frog from his home world.

"Ninja?!" _How did he read my mind? My dark ninja arts make me immune to psychics, don't they?_

"Uh...psychic powers are different in my world. There aren't Pokemon Types and stuff there, so maybe that's why."

Lucario joined the conversation, using his aura powers to speak to them telepathically.

_"I don't know what you were referring to, but Greninja is a newcomer...He needs to know about the incident before the third tournament. So if you want to talk, then tell him about your part in that crisis."_

Lucas nodded, then used the power of telepathy to show some of his memories of the war against the Subspace Army.

* * *

_"It all started when we got sent to this world by the invitations. When we showed up, we didn't appear together like we were supposed to and got split up all over the world...I was stuck in a creepy abandoned zoo. Then something rained from the sky like snow, but dark...it turned into a bunch of nasty monsters that all attacked me. It was pretty scary, but I tried to get out of there and took out the ones that got too close."_

_"Then it all got worse when that giant Porky statue showed up. Nothing I tried made a dent in it, so all I could do was run...until I tripped and fell over. __I thought I was done for, but all of a sudden, Ness showed up and blew up the statue. The real Porky was inside in his stupid machine, and we beat him together...but he got away." _Lucas clenched his fist in frustration, reminded how no matter what he did Porky would just never die. He didn't even know how Porky had shown up when he was sealed in the Absolutely Safe Capsule, but there was no way to know. Maybe it was something weird related to Porky's time travel, or maybe it was just like one of those dark copies and not the real Porky. That would explain why he didn't talk in their fight.

_"I thought that was bad, but it only got worse when Wario showed up. He had this weird weapon called a "Dark Cannon" which fired these nasty black arrows that could turn anyone to a trophy in one shot. Ness kept dodging it to survive, but then he aimed for me. I was too afraid to dodge it, so Ness pushed me out of the way and took the hit...Then I was too scared and ran away..and Ness got kidnapped because of that..." _He looked away, not wanting to dwell on that memory.

_"Then I met a Pokemon Trainer named Red. He was fighting the monsters too, and they'd taken away two of his Pokemon, so we teamed up to try to find them and Ness together."_

_"Eventually we made it to the ruins where his Pokemon were, but that smelly jerk was waiting for us. We took him down, but he didn't have Ness with him anymore..."_

_"We fought our way through the ruins and beat all the monsters there, and we finally caught Ivysaur and Charizard. Then a giant robot fell through the roof and attacked us. We destroyed it too, but it had a Subspace Bomb in its head..! It grabbed us and flew up to the sky as the timer went down, trying to blow us up with it. I blew off its arm with PK Thunder, but that just sent us falling to our deaths...Luckily Meta Knight caught us."_

"Nin nin?" _What's a Subspace Bomb? _Greninja also was a little cautious at the mention of "PK Thunder"...he would have to watch out for Electric type attacks from more than just Pikachu now.

_"It's a bomb that makes a huge explosion that sucks everything inside to Subspace. The whole goal of the Subspace Army was to try to suck our entire world into theirs piece by piece, and they were using the bombs to do it."_

_"Anyways, after we escaped the explosion, Meta Knight, Marth, and Ike helped us against even more monsters that came down from the Halberd. Meta Knight went up the mountain to try to get to the ship, and Mario, Kirby, Pit, Link, and Yoshi showed up to help us too. I don't know what he did up there, though..."_

Lucario then took Lucas's place in explaining, thinking back to his own part in the Subspace War.

_"Then allow me to explain. After Meta Knight climbed Icicle Mountain, he found me at the top. We both sought a worthy opponent, so we fought against each other. It was a close battle, but he was victorious...as he often was. He revived me, and the two of us joined forces and infiltrated his ship, the Battleship Halberd, to reclaim it from the Subspace Army so they could no longer use it to rain their monsters on the world. We found a human man named Snake on board who had also infiltrated it, and with his help we continued through the ship."_

_"Eventually, we found where the two human princesses were held captive and freed them after fighting dark clones of them. Snake told them to stay back, but instead they went elsewhere on the ship to join the battle."_

_"The rest of us reached the control room, where we found five copies of Mr. Game and Watch. We attacked and knocked them out the window and onto the main deck where Fox, Sheik, and Peach were waiting. All of them fused together, becoming a giant machine called Duon. It was a difficult battle, but our powers combined destroyed it, revealing the true Mr. Game and Watch. The Subspace Army had been using his inner darkness to create the Shadow Bugs that composed their monsters and dark copies all this time...Naturally, many were cautious of him, but when Peach revived him we found that he was no enemy to us. He had only been forced to create the Shadow Bugs against his will. After that, Meta Knight took back control of the Halberd and reunited us with Lucas and the others on the ground. With the source of their armies gone, it was time to take the fight to Subspace..."_

Their telepathic summary of the war was cut short for a moment when they heard the metallic footsteps of a familiar armored bounty hunter. Lucas turned around, seeing Samus walking up to the three of them with Pikachu perched on the shoulder plate of her Varia Suit, waving happily at Lucas and the other Pokemon and saying "Pika pika!".

"Hey, kid. You do know they're our enemy in the next battle, right? Try not to tell them all your weaknesses..."

"Sorry, Ms. Aran...I was just telling Mr. Frog about the fight with Subspace. You could tell him your part of it too...if you don't mind."

"...Fine, but I'll keep it short. We don't have much time." Samus wasn't much of a talker, probably because she spent a lot of her life alone in space and on dangerous missions to protect the galaxy, the kind only she could do.

"It started in the Subspace Bomb Factory. I lost my Power Suit, so I looked for it until I found Pikachu...they were using him as a power source."

"Pika pi..." Pikachu had a sad look as he thought back to those bad times...He was lucky Samus had found him when she did.

"I broke Pikachu out of there, and he helped me get my suit back. Then Ridley attacked us...he just never _stays_ dead. I killed him again, then we fought our way to where the bombs were coming from. Ganondorf ordered the ROBs inside to detonate all of them at once, which would destroy the entire island. The leader R.O.B didn't want this and rebelled, but we couldn't stop it in time or save the other ROBs. We brought him with us and escaped the exploding island on Douglas's ship...then Ridley somehow came back and chased us, so we killed him yet again."

"After that, we met up with everyone else and used all our ships to invade Subspace. We destroyed their flagship, invaded their dimension, and fought the winged blue man leading them, but we lost. Then we were brought back and fought him again, and we won. The end."

"Ninja..?" Greninja tilted his head in confusion, left with more questions than answers thanks to Samus's very short summary of the long conflict.

Lucas scratched the back of his head, wishing she'd been a bit clearer. "Sorry, Mr. Frog...I'll explain the rest later. I'd better go find Charizard." Looking at the clock, they were running out of time before the battle started. He took a moment to use his telepathy to contact Charizard, then left with Samus and Pikachu to have a team meeting somewhere else, since they obviously weren't going to talk about their plans in front of their opponents. That left only the other two Pokemon in the area they had their sparring match in.

Lucario was silent for now, in a meditative stance as he took a moment to think. _That boy is unusually kind even to his enemies...but that is also his weakness. He accidentally told us how he can use lightning which Greninja is weak to, and that his psychic powers are different from those in our world. In that case, he might not resist my fighting techniques or even Mewtwo's psychic attacks..._

Another mind had overheard Lucario's thoughts. One with psychic power above all others...

_"How convenient...that will make this battle even easier."_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Mewtwo's Merciless Melee

(Author's Note: Here's another format thing:

("_This means a very short flashback, usually a character remembering a single line someone said in the past."_)

As usual, thanks for reading and reviewing!)

Lucas looked at the nearest clock, wincing when he saw there were only a few minutes left until the battle started. They'd have to figure out their battle plan soon or be disqualified for tardiness. Lucas, Samus, and their Pokemon left the Stadium which was full of noise and unwanted attention from spectators to go somewhere more private.

That somewhere was Samus's Hunter-Class Gunship. It was orange with green windows that looked almost like Samus's visor, and easily as futuristic as the Arwings, but considerably larger and more round in shape. It had come in handy as one of the ships used to invade Subspace and evacuate the Halberd when it was shot down, not that Lucas had been in it. He and Red had rode on Charizard instead on that fateful day since the dragon-like Pokemon could fly like a fighter jet when he was at top speed.

Once they were inside, Lucas found it wasn't built to fit lots of people, making it a bit cramped for him and Charizard in the back while Samus sat in the pilot's seat, with Pikachu perched on her shoulder. The computers and machinery here looked centuries ahead of what Lucas was used to, and he couldn't come close to understanding how they worked. The floor was metallic, lifeless, and above all cold. So was the air, making him shiver a little unlike Samus and the Pokemon who were insulated from the cold, Samus by her Varia Suit and Chozo DNA and the Pokemon by their fur or fire typing.

"It's c-c-cold..."

Samus didn't say anything in response and simply pressed a few buttons on the holographic interface of her computer. Before long, the ship's temperature rose to a more comfortable level.

"Thanks, Ms. Aran."

Samus then did something else with the computer, and Lucas watched in confusion until a more familiar interface showed up. It was none other than the Pokedex. She must have downloaded its data at some point, since now she was searching through it until she found the entry she wanted. It was on the only Pokemon here she hadn't fought before.

[No. 658: Greninja, the Ninja Pokemon]

[Water/Dark Type]

[It appears and vanishes with a ninja's grace. It toys with its enemies using swift movements, while slicing them with throwing stars of sharpest water.]

[Abilities: Torrent: Amplifies the user's Water-type attacks when seriously injured. Hidden Ability: Protean: Changes the user's Type based on attack used.]

The Pokedex displayed Greninja's other strengths and weaknesses as well, showing he was a very fast Pokemon with powerful physical and special attacks, but not very tough.

"This is the new one. He's weak to lightning, so keep him away from Charizard and let Pikachu take him out. You already know the drill with Lucario, and I can handle Jigglypuff and Mewtwo. You can stay back and heal us."

Lucas nodded, understanding that Charizard was the best counter to Lucario's Steel and Fighting types, resisting both and being super effective against steel with his fire. There was a brief silence as Lucas worked up the courage to ask her something.

"Um...I know you've fought Mewtwo, but I haven't. What should I do..? Red said he's the strongest Psychic type in the world..."

Samus paused for a moment, then looked back to the computer. "A review can't hurt." She went through the holographic Pokedex and soon found the data on Mewtwo.

[No. 150: Mewtwo, the Genetic Pokemon]

[Psychic Type]

[Mewtwo is a Pokemon that was created by genetic manipulation. However, even though the scientific power of humans created this Pokemon's body, they failed to endow Mewtwo with a compassionate heart.]

[Abilities: Pressure: The user exerts a terrifying aura that inflicts fear in enemies and lowers their stamina. Hidden Ability: Unnerve: Intimidates the enemy, preventing them from eating Berries.]

Lucas shivered again, but not from cold as he looked at Mewtwo's stats. His psychic attack power was absurd, much higher than even Greninja's, and he was faster than Greninja too. He also wasn't as frail. In other words he was completely superior with power befitting a Legendary Pokemon. Lucas gulped.

"Don't panic. Somehow, Master Hand makes everyone equal here. There are strong types like Bowser and fast types like Sonic, but there's always a tradeoff. If people had the same power as in their home worlds, the ones who can blow up planets like Kirby would always win."

Lucas's jaw dropped. "Blow up planets?!" He couldn't believe such an adorable puffball had such unbelievable power. The only power he knew of that could destroy the world was the Dark Dragon...Luckily his power had been used to restore the world instead and make all of it habitable again, and return all the Chimeras back to the animals they were before.

"Meta Knight says Kirby cracked his planet's crust once, and he regularly destroys cosmic threats. You can believe him, or not. Your choice."

Lucas was left speechless for a moment as he kept looking at Mewtwo's Pokedex entry. He managed to calm down, but there was something more than just Mewtwo's power that bothered him. The Pokedex entry only explained a small part of the story Red told him about Mewtwo's origins. Mewtwo was made by scientists who used cloning technology on Mew's DNA, under orders from the leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni, who wanted to use Mewtwo's psychic power as a weapon to ensure his criminal organization's dominance.

It reminded Lucas of the Chimeras, animals forcibly mutated and in some cases turned into cyborgs which made them unnaturally violent. And most of all, it reminded him of a certain _someone _who had the idea for the Chimeras in the first place, including the first Human Chimera...A memory came back to Lucas.

("_Huh? That monster's name is Claus? Its name was Claus? That almost sounds like a person's name! But now it's my robot. Not even a fragment of life remains inside it. It's Master Porky's slave robot! It does whatever I say! It acts on my will alone. It doesn't know anything about who you are."_)

He hadn't realized he was shaking and clenching his fists until Samus pointed it out.

"Something's bothering you...No, someone. Who?" She recognized that look in his eyes as he stared off seemingly at nothing. It was like looking in a mirror at her younger self, whenever she thought about a certain space dragon.

"...His name's Porky." Lucas didn't say what he did, but from that seething voice Samus could guess what kind of person could make even Lucas feel hatred.

"I see...I saw your match earlier. He did it, didn't he?"

"..."

"He's your Ridley. He killed your mother." It sounded more like a statement of a fact than a question, and the fact was true at least in spirit.

"No, but he made the Drago all metal and violent and it...I...uh...I don't wanna talk about it..."

"...Sorry. I'm not good with kids."

"It's ok. I'm fine, really..." Lucas didn't really feel ok, but he didn't want Samus to pity him. He sighed, realizing this was all thanks to what he did in the fight with Bayonetta.

Samus took off her helmet, both to get a breath of fresh air and to try to look less intimidating. Pikachu took that moment to nuzzle her face affectionately, causing a tiny static discharge.

"Stop it, that tickles...We have a battle to prepare for." Samus pet Pikachu's head in a way that managed to separate his face from hers. She tried to keep a stoic face, but Lucas could tell with his psychic powers that she enjoyed it. He knew it always made him feel better to have a pet like Boney or Charizard around. Now that her helmet was off, he could see her face. The blonde hair and ponytail made her look almost like an older version of someone he knew. Calling Samus pretty was an understatement, and Lucas was at the age where he started noticing that kind of thing more and more often. Luckily she didn't see his flushed face as she looked back at the computer's Pokedex. Then he remembered there was something else about her and her universe that reminded him of someone else he knew, too.

"Um...are Metroids and Komaytos the same thing? Pit said he thinks they are."

"No, they aren't. I don't know what a Komayto is, but the Metroid species is extinct, so they must be different.

"Oh. So the last Komayto is not in captivity and the galaxy is not at peace?"

"...That isn't important. Back on topic: don't worry about Mewtwo. Pikachu and I have fought him before, so we can handle him. You're the only one of us who can heal, so you can stay back and keep the rest of us alive. Understood?"

"R-roger. Got it." Lucas still had a nervous voice, but Charizard gave him a little pat on the back with his left wing, trying to reassure him but almost knocking him over in the process. Still, Lucas smiled in appreciation of the gesture and pet Charizard in return.

"...We're out of time. Let's go." Samus put her helmet back on and approached a cylindrical device which she used on her missions to recharge her suit. With Master Hand's assistance, it also functioned as a teleporter whenever she was in the World of Trophies. Every fighter had their own way of entering the battlefield in a flashy manner, and Master Hand preferred that diversity to simply having a teleporter room that made everyone appear the same way. It certainly pleased the crowd more...

* * *

And soon, the crowd would be very pleased as they anticipated the fighters arriving at the battle arena of Pokemon Stadium. The Stadium was filled with spectators and all eagerly awaiting the very first Eight Player Smash. Most were Miis, some were fellow fighters, and a few were even friends of the incoming combatants whose names and faces were displayed on the huge TV screen visible to everyone in the stadium. The first to draw the eyes of the crowd was Lucas, who leapt from a blue portal and slid across the fake grass of the floor, grinding to a halt right underneath the floating platform on their half of the arena. Samus appeared right in front of him, her metallic footsteps echoing through the arena as she pulled something from a small container in her suit. Lucas got the same object from his pocket: a spherical device red and white in color.

"Go, Charizard!"

Lucas tossed his Poke Ball through the air, making it spin vertically as it released its occupant in a flash of light. The audience cheered as Charizard landed on the ground near Lucas and roared, spreading his wings. If Lucas were a 'real' Pokemon Trainer, he would know how to throw his Poke Ball with such skill that it bounced right back to his hand after it landed. Sadly, he was not, and had to make use of his telekinetic powers to pull it back through the air and into his pocket. Samus evidently didn't know the Trainer tradition and simply opened her Poke Ball without throwing it or yelling Pikachu's name, causing Pikachu to appear in a much less dramatic fashion. The audience liked hearing Pikachu go "Pika Pika!", but booed at his new trainer's disappointing performance. Samus paid them little attention.

With all four of them there, the announcer's voice then boomed across the stadium.

"RED TEAM!"

It fit well considering Lucas's shirt, Samus's Varia Suit, Charizard's entire body, and Pikachu's party hat all had some kind of red or orange. The four of them faced off against the other team which showed up only moments later...

Lucario jumped onto the platform in a blur of extreme speed, his hands spiked and glowing with a faint aura as blue as his fur. At the same time, Greninja emerged from the shadows next to him, taking a typical ninja stance. A moment later, Jigglypuff arrived by floating down to the ground from above, her slow fall showing how light she was, all while humming a lullaby so soothing that it put both her teammates to sleep.

Finally, the air near them crackled with purple psychic energy as the last fighter appeared seemingly out of nowhere. With a wave of his three-fingered hand, he instantly woke up Lucario. His powers didn't work on Greninja, who Lucario had to poke awake before Jigglypuff could use her marker to start drawing on his face. Mewtwo floated a few inches above the ground, staring down one enemy in particular. Lucas shuddered from the sheer _pressure _he gave off...It was very unnerving, especially for a fellow psychic.

The four opponents took a formation, with Mewtwo in the center, Jigglypuff waiting on the platform above, and Lucario and Greninja to Mewtwo's left and right respectively. Meanwhile, Lucas stood behind Samus, while Charizard was to her right and Pikachu was to her left.

"BLUE TEAM!

The team was pretty blue with Lucario and Greninja in it, and Jigglypuff wore a blue hat. Mewtwo was the only odd one out.

Master Hand was taking a little longer than usual to start the match this time. Probably because another hand also took the role of announcer, this one sounding more high pitched and...insane.

"PoKeMoN TrAiNeRs vS wIlD pOkEmOn, HuH. nEaT! So wHiCh WiLl CoMe OuT oN tOp? OrDeR oR cHaOs?"

"We shall see soon enough, brother..."

Meanwhile, Lucas took a look around the Pokemon Stadium, and it overwhelmed his senses. The arena itself was a huge green platform raised far above the ground, with two small platforms floating above it and on opposite sides of the large Poke Ball symbol dividing the competing teams. Hundreds of spectators watched from the stands surrounding them from all sides, and bright stage lights made Lucas's eyes wince as they adjusted. To the east and the west were enormous TV screens that stood tall above the main entrances to the stadium, creating a gap in the spectator stands. They displayed a closeup of the battle, the current stage form, the participant and team names, and even who was in the lead. His ears were pained by the cheering of the countless Miis, and the smell of popcorn, soda, and various snacks filled the air. He was grateful a certain smelly man was not among the spectators. Some like Pikachu and Jigglypuff enjoyed the attention and intensity, but it was all a little much for Lucas who closed his eyes, trying to stay calm and cut out the many, many distractions.

_Cmon, focus..._

Lucas put his index and middle fingers to his head, taking a stance that helped him channel his psychic powers as he tried to focus only on his sixth sense. Unfortunately, even that sense was full of distractions. Lucas could literally _feel _the excitement of the thousands of Miis watching, the encouragement of his friends like Ness and Toon Link, the calm and focus of Lucario and Greninja, the cheerful optimism of Pikachu and Jigglypuff, and the stubborn determination of Charizard...It was a lot to take in. Luckily, he knew how to tune out unwanted thoughts and emotions and did so quickly. Lucas sighed, remembering the days after he first awakened to PSI and before he learned how to do this essential task. The resulting sensory overload had been very, _very _uncomfortable to say the least...He might have lost his sanity if Kumatora hadn't taught him how to control his telepathy better. It was one of many things he was grateful to her for.

There was only one mind he couldn't sense anything from, other than its huge psychic presence.

"3..."

The countdown was starting, so Lucas opened his eyes again and wielded his Mystical Stick, trying to at least pretend to look confident as he stared down the opposing team.

"2..."

Samus aimed her arm cannon, Pikachu's cheeks sparked with electricity, and Charizard stood in front of Lucas protectively, looking at Lucario, who balanced on one foot while channeling a faint aura to his palms. Greninja pulled his hands back as if about to throw needles like Sheik, and Jigglypuff pleasantly hummed to herself on the platform, smiling the whole time. She was way too adorable to be imposing, much like Kirby.

Meanwhile, Mewtwo crossed his arms and closed his eyes, levitating in place and waiting for someone to make a move as he listened and waited. He just floated there...menacingly.

Lucas expected a "1", and then a "Go!", but he did not get one. Instead he was startled when the other announcer interrupted Master Hand, snapping his fidgety fingers.

"iT's TiMe to d-d-d-du-du-du-du-DuEl!"

"...This is anything but a duel, brother. And don't interrupt me."

"tOo LaTe NoW! gAhAhAhAhA!"

It was indeed too late. The audience cheered as the battle had already started...

* * *

The instant Crazy Hand snapped his fingers, a volley of water shuriken flew towards Charizard. Yes, shuriken made of water. Really. Lucas made himself ignore how strange that was as he jumped in their path with a psychic barrier and endured the pain himself, knowing it would hurt even more for Charizard. At the same time he knew what Charizard had to do.

_"Charizard, use Flamethrower!"_ He used telepathy to not broadcast his plan to everyone as Charizard breathed a torrent of flames at Lucario. He saw it coming and vanished into afterimages just before they reached him, counterattacking with a flying kick at Pikachu who raced towards the other team at lightning speed. Unluckily for him, the foot that sent Pikachu flying into Samus suddenly went numb from a static shock...

[Static: Lucario is paralyzed! He can't move!]

Jigglypuff started the fight by curling up and rolling at Samus at incredible speeds, who grabbed her with her Grapple Beam and threw her at Mewtwo, only for Mewtwo to use his telekinesis and throw her right back at Lucas as if he was a baseball pitcher. This happened at the same time as Pikachu being sent flying into Samus.

Luckily for Lucas, a friend taught him how to play baseball. SLAM! He swung his bat and knocked Jigglypuff right at Greninja, knocking both of them over. Charizard took the chance to breathe flames at Lucario again, and this time hit since he was paralyzed, giving him serious burns.

"Awesome! Now that's what I call a hot dog!" Ness and much of the audience cheered as the fight turned in their favor. However as the smoke cleared, Lucario's aura glowed much more brightly...It was the worst part of fighting him. But then, something strange happened.

Greninja threw Jigglypuff off of him and towards Samus, gathering dark energy in his hands while Samus was bombarded by a series of floating backwards kicks from Jigglypuff who seemingly inflated her feet as she attacked, otherwise their reach would make no sense. Lucas got ready to defend until he aimed it at...Lucario?

[Greninja used Dark Pulse! It's not very effective...]

It left Lucas in shock why the enemy team would hit each other. Lucario barely flinched from the attack, resisting its type. However...

[Justified: Lucario's Attack rose!]

Greninja then did it again, raising Lucario's physical attack power even more. But as he did, a lightning bolt came down from above. "PIKA!" Pikachu finally hit Greninja with Thunder, but he took it pretty well. Too well, actually. All the blueness of his skin had also turned black for some reason...

Lucas was only starting to get it when Pikachu used Skull Bash, only for Greninja to use Shadow Sneak and cause the Normal type attack to pass right through him while he turned a dark purple and swam through the shadows to kick Lucas from below. Just like...a Ghost type. At the same time, Lucario rushed to attack Pikachu with a Force Palm. It was only as he was kicked into the air and as someone in the crowd said "Now that's strategy!" that Lucas remembered what Protean did.

_Ah crap...he's changing his type!  
_

While Lucas did a PSI-powered flip in midair to recover, Greninja threw more water shuriken at Charizard, sending him flying up into the air near Lucas. Even though the shuriken cut Charizard's skin, no one bled in the World of Trophies. Instead a bit of that rainbow-colored energy leaked out of any cuts before they quickly healed, just like the energy of a Smash Ball. Even so, Lucas could tell he was seriously hurt, and the others were getting damaged too. So as he landed on Charizard's back in midair, Lucas released a huge wave of PSI energy to heal all his teammates as much as he could.

[Lucas tried Lifeup Ω!]

At the same time, the arena changed into its Water form, replacing some of the ground with a pond while two new platforms and a windmill replaced the previous ones. This was convenient for Pikachu who surrounded himself with lightning as he hit Greninja into the water, electrocuting the pond and hitting for super effective damage now that Greninja was water type again. Samus managed to finally hit Jigglypuff, knocking her back towards Lucario with a homing missile and a barrage of shots from her arm cannon.

_"Charizard, use Fire Blast!"_

Charizard happily obliged and fired a huge ball of flame at Lucario. The aura user had only a moment to react, and was about to be hit by the fireball when a Shadow Ball intercepted it, making them both explode in flames and darkness. With his aura vision, Lucario saw through the resulting smoke cloud as he picked up Jigglypuff, who curled into a ball and spun rapidly in his hand. Then he threw her at such absurd speeds that it made a shockwave, blowing away the smoke cloud and putting a hole in one of the windmill's rotary arms. Lucas cried out in pain as Jigglypuff's Rollout slammed him right off of Charizard. Charizard turned in midair, trying to catch Lucas on his back again, only for Jigglypuff to cut him off with a barrage of painful back aerial kicks and Pound punches. It could best be described as a 'wall of pain'.

This was all to help Lucario, who flew through the air like a blur with his Extreme Speed fueled by an intense aura and his Justified ability. Lucas could hardly see him as he kept flying at him from all sides and knocking him through the air repeatedly, and all he could do was spam PSI Shield, Lifeup, and Defense Up on himself until the extreme speed assault finally stopped. The air was knocked out of his lungs, making him unable to breathe, but he forced himself to attack anyways to get Lucario off of him.

"PK Fire!" The fiery explosion knocked Lucario away for super effective damage. Unfortunately, it didn't quite hit him out of bounds and made his aura even stronger. Then, as he was falling and catching his breath, something appeared in the air that got everyone's attention instantly: A Smash Ball. No, _two_ Smash Balls!

The audience gasped. So did Lucas.

Everyone scrambled to try to hit the Smash Ball while making sure the others didn't. Lucas landed on the windmill and manipulated a ball of PK Thunder, Charizard tried to hit them with his Flamethrower, Jigglypuff went at them with her aerials, and Lucario used his Extreme Speed while Mewtwo, Greninja, and Samus shot their projectiles at them. They all knew it would be a disaster if the other team got both, or a near certain victory if the opposite happened.

Neither of those happened. The rain of projectiles and attacks damaged the Smash Balls until Samus's Charge Shot and Lucario's Close Combat finally broke them, making them gain their rainbow auras. The audience was practically bursting with excitement now as many of them started cheering for one or the other. This was a very, very special occasion.

"SAAAAAMUS! SAAAAMUS!"

"LU-CA-RIO! LU-CA-RIO!"

Lucario's aura became even brighter as he...transformed? Lucas could only watch in awe as he realized this was in fact the Mega Evolution Red told him about. The newly transformed Mega Lucario then gathered a huge amount of aura into his hands and blasted it as a giant beam into the stage, aiming it right at Samus and everything near her.

"Watch the power of AURA!"

In response, Samus charged up her own Zero Laser and aimed it upwards this time, firing it at Lucario. It was just like something on that TV show Ness talked about sometimes...What was it called again? Lucas couldn't quite remember, but something felt familiar about the two giant beams clashing with each other with such force that all the windmill's arms were vaporized one by one as they spun into the beam clash. It was an almost blindingly bright spectacle, and the audience's cheers were deafening. The other Pokemon were also in awe of the rare 'Final Smash Duel' and had stopped fighting to watch it...All except one.

A tail swipe hit Lucas from behind, knocking him up into the air. It was from Mewtwo, who had been on the other side of the stage just a moment ago. He followed up with another as he floated in the air, and then a blast of psychic energy that Lucas blocked with a PSI Shield, but was still pushed slightly back. Finally, Mewtwo used a fully charged Shadow Ball to try to send Lucas flying right into the giant beam clash.

_That's dirty..!_

Luckily, Lucas realized what he was going for and swung his Mystical Stick to hit the Shadow Ball right back at Mewtwo, knowing he was weak to his own attack. Just before it would have hit him, Mewtwo telekinetically pulled Jigglypuff to himself and used her as a shield, making the Shadow Ball disperse harmlessly on contact with her. He then threw her right at Lucas, who ducked under her just in time. Mewtwo used that time to rush towards him and grab Lucas telekinetically, throwing him right at the dueling lasers. Lucas winced and braced for the end...

But it never came. The two beams destroyed each other in a huge explosion that knocked Lucas away just before he would have hit them directly, only hitting him with a fraction of the clash's power much to Mewtwo's disappointment. However, other fighters attacked the Final Smash users while they were vulnerable. Charizard set himself on fire and flew into Lucario at incredible speeds, finally knocking him out of bounds. The seemingly harmless Jigglypuff proved not so harmless when she floated next to Samus and fell asleep.

"SAMUS...DEFEATED! LUCARIO...DEFEATED!"

With the two of them down, it was three on three. Pikachu and Charizard fought with Greninja and Jigglypuff while Mewtwo used Swift and sent a volley of star-like projectiles at Lucas at various angles. As he tried to dodge them all, he found himself getting further and further away from Charizard, who was doing his best to not get knocked out by Greninja's shuriken while Pikachu tried to keep the ninja frog busy. Once he escaped all the stars, Lucas blasted Mewtwo with a huge, multicolored and hexagonal explosion of psychic energy.

[Lucas tried PK Love Ω!]

He was breathing heavily, tired from using so much energy to heal his teammates and himself. When the smoke cleared, Mewtwo wasn't there anymore...Lucas gasped, turning around to see Mewtwo suddenly behind him.

_He can teleport _without _moving? Ness said only PK Teleport Omega can do that..!_

Lucas's moment of surprise let Mewtwo grab his head with both three-fingered hands which were glowing with an enormous amount of psychic energy. For some reason, Mewtwo had not fought as much as his teammates earlier in the fight and spent a lot of his time just floating around...

That was because he had been continuously using Calm Mind.

[Mewtwo used Psychic!]

"Ahhhhh!"

Lucas screamed in pain until all of a sudden, they both went quiet. Neither of them moved a muscle as Mewtwo kept grabbing Lucas's head, assaulting his mind with his psychic power. To the spectators, it looked like they had stopped fighting, but that was anything but the truth. The battle between Lucas and Mewtwo would continue...

Inside Lucas's mind.

(Author's Note: Sorry about that cliffhanger, but it's not without purpose. Also the Porky quote is from MOTHER 3, not me.)


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Battle in the Center of Magicant

(Author's Note: I should say this in advance: I gave this fic a T rating for a reason that hasn't been obvious until now. Because they're in Lucas's mind, this chapter will be a little darker than usual, and by a little I mean a lot. Don't say I didn't warn you. Also there are always spoilers for MOTHER 3 in this fic but this chapter has a lot of them, as well as from the Pokemon movie "Mewtwo Strikes Back".)

* * *

Lucas blinked several times, wiping his eyes as he woke up as if from a dream. He dusted the dirt off his fingers as he pushed himself up from the grassy ground which was covered in sunflowers. It was quiet other than a gentle breezed that pushed the flowers, his messy blonde hair, and his clothes...except that last part wasn't true. The realization he wasn't wearing any snapped him out of his dazed state instantly.

"Eek!"

Lucas covered himself, his face flushed red with embarrassment. Somehow, reality answered his wish, causing his blue and white striped pajamas to materialize onto his body out of thin air with a strange 'poof' sound. The Franklin Badge was attached to them too. He held his head in shock, wondering if he was going crazy or if that had really just happened.

_What was that?!  
_

Lucas could tell there was definitely something strange going on as he took a look at his surroundings. He saw some of the buildings from the old Tazmily Village, including his house. Then there were cone-shaped trees with a checkerboard-like pattern on them, giant carrots growing from the ground, and many familiar yet out of place objects strewn about the landscape randomly. A doorknob, a wooden stick, a yellow beam sword, a set of train tracks and more were among them. Other strange sights were a giant tower with a strange device and a fat man on top, a humanoid yet also cat-like Pokemon, and a purple sea surrounding most of this mysterious island except for a land bridge that stretched out to another island-

_Wait, what?! What's with this place..?  
_

Lucas's eyes widened as he took a step back in surprise. One of those did not belong...he blinked for a second and said cat-like Pokemon was gone, only to appear right next to him with the same stoic expression as usual. "Ah!" Lucas stumbled backwards in surprise and tripped, falling on his butt like he had sometimes in the days of 'Brawl'.

_"Must I explain everything? This land was created by your own mind, so you should know it better than anyone."_

Lucas awkwardly got back up and backed away cautiously, reminded of how they had just been fighting. What Mewtwo said also reminded him that in order to defeat Giygas, Ness once ventured into his own mind and fought against his deepest fears and nightmares to unlock his true potential. That mental world was called 'Magicant', which meant this was Lucas's own Magicant. A sweat drop trickled down Lucas's face as he realized why Mewtwo would send him inside his own head. It had to be for a psychic technique Lucas didn't even think possible until he learned from Red how some psychic Pokemon could do it. He didn't know how to do it, but even if he did he would never use something so...invasive.

_If he brought me to my Magicant in a fight, then...he's trying to control my mind..!_

_"Exactly. Psychic powers can be used for far more than merely creating explosions and firing elemental attacks. Once one learns to alter the mind itself, erasing memories, reading thoughts, and controlling people are all simple tasks."  
_

Lucas frowned angrily, trying to not let his fear show. "B-but that's awful...You can't just mess with people's heads like that!" It wasn't very effective in a world literally made of thoughts and feelings. Definitely not effective when Lucas could sense the huge purple aura flooding the air thanks to all the time Mewtwo had spent using Calm Mind.

_"That naivety is what holds you and Ness back from your full potential. Tell me, do your enemies ever show you as much mercy as you do to them?"_

"..." Lucas averted his eyes, not knowing what to say. In the world of Smash Bros, killing was illegal and even impossible thanks to their indestructible trophy forms, but in real conflicts things were different. The Pigmasks and the Chimeras they made never hesitated to hit him with bullets, fangs, explosions, and many other painful attacks. The same went for all the Shadow Bug monsters made by the Subspace Army, and the traitors tricked into aiding them, especially the fat and smelly one.

_"I will take that as a 'no'. However, despite what the Pokedex says, I am not heartless. The process will be painless so long as you do not fight back."  
_

Lucas started glowing with his own psychic aura as he mustered up as much strength and courage as he could. "What?! No way...I won't let you make me hurt my friends!" A second aura overlapped with the first, this one blue while the other was orange. The two auras together were Lucas's equivalent of "Calm Mind". Normally the Omega version was for buffing a team of four, but since joining Smash he had learned how to use it on just himself to make the effect stronger.

[Lucas tried Offense Up Ω!][Lucas tried Defense Up Ω!][Lucas tried PSI Shie-]

[Mewtwo used Psychic!]

Lucas was flung across the fields telekinetically before he could finish making a barrier, sending him crashing through the walls of several consecutive buildings which sent wooden splinters flying everywhere, including into his skin. He painfully slid across the ground until he rolled to a stop. A green light covered his body, removing the splinters and healing the bleeding wounds as he got back on his feet.

_Wait, blood?_

It was because they were fighting inside Magicant, the world of his mind. Lucas had spent a lot more of his life being able to bleed than immune to it, so it was no surprise it happened here. However, that train of thought changed tracks when he saw someone next to where he had landed: it was Alec, his grandpa. Suddenly, Lucas's mind returned to a memory from when he was only ten years old...It caused the entire landscape to temporarily change to the memory, where Lucas returned to his younger self and Mewtwo appeared transparently like a ghost, able to observe but not interact with it.

* * *

It was the day after the forest fire and the other thing that happened in the forest. Lucas, his dad, his grandpa Alec, and many of the Tazmily villagers were attending...that. The conversation led to Alec asking Lucas where Claus was, because he'd gone missing after saying he would go visit Flint only to not show up.

"Lucas! It's not good to keep secrets from people! Don't tell me Claus went after that detestable Drago to try to..."

Lucas twiddled his thumbs nervously, not sure what to say. "N-n-n-no! He didn't take Dad's homemade knife and go into the mountains to kill the Drago! ...Aah!" He stumbled back awkwardly, embarrassed and angry at himself for revealing what was supposed to be a secret.

Alec chuckled a little. "It's a good thing you raised him to be honest, Flint! Does Claus honestly think a homemade knife can kill a Drago? Lucas! Why didn't you stop him?" His tone was more serious at the end, worried for his other grandson's safety.

Lucas averted his eyes in shame. "Well...I said I wanted to go too, but he said no because he was going alone..." He was shaking a little, scared what would happen with his brother and the Drago now. He had wanted to go after it too but had been too afraid to force Claus to stop or insist on going with him...

"So you just let him go? You fool!"

Lucas, who had been struggling to hold back tears of grief this whole time, couldn't take it anymore. The incredible guilt he now felt made him break down crying as he ran away...

* * *

When Lucas's thoughts returned the land of Magicant to how it was before, his eyes darted around, seeing that Mewtwo hadn't attacked him in that time and simply appeared out of thin air with a distinct _blink _sound...it was because he had been sucked into the memory too. The Magicant version of Alec faded away after the memory ended. Lucas clenched his teeth in frustration that he had to go back to such an unpleasant memory.

"What did you do..? Stop messing with my head!" PSI sparked from Lucas's hands as he blasted Mewtwo with PK Love, knocking him into and destroying his own house in a giant, multicolored hexagonal explosion that sent a shower of debris in all directions. The genetic Pokemon was seemingly crushed beneath the rubble...

[Mewtwo used Recover.] [Mewtwo used Psychic!]

A huge pillar of psychic energy burst from the debris, sending everything nearby flying into the sky, both the remains of the house and large chunks of the ground including the one Lucas was standing on. Lucas's vision spun as his platform was tossed through the air at high speeds, continuing to dizzy him until he used his PSI to abruptly stop the spinning. The whiplash hurt a little, but it was better than leaving himself helpless.

With another _blink_, Mewtwo appeared floating on the opposite end of the newly formed cloud of debris which strangely wasn't obeying the force of gravity. Perhaps not so strangely since this land was made of dreams and thought, not the laws of physics. Perhaps a mind like Jeff's that had those laws memorized would be more faithful to them.

_"That was not my doing. The man you saw was only an illusion, a manifestation of your subconscious like everything else here._ Almost _everything else..._"

As he said that, many of the walls, floors, beds, and other objects from Lucas's house started glowing purple from Mewtwo's telekinetic control of them. Not only that, but they _changed _into other things like the metal walls and floors of a laboratory and even a few computers. The air around Mewtwo was distorting as more and more changed into things from his world...

In other words, Mewtwo was starting to override Lucas's Magicant with his own. If he took over completely, then the mind control would be a success.

_I can't let him do that..! _

Lucas held out his arms to each side, his hands glowing with yellow and blue hexagons as he answered Mewtwo's telekinetic attack with his own. Both of them launched a barrage of debris at each other, intercepting each others' projectiles. Rocks crumbled, wooden walls were torn apart, machines exploded, and metal bent as the many objects clashed in a deafening spectacle. Some missed each other to go flying into the distance, most were destroyed, but a lucky few on each side slipped by to their intended target.

Lucas really wished he had a weapon when a rock, half of his bed and the floor below it were all hurled at him...just like that, his Mystical Stick flew into his hand, allowing him to swing it like a bat to deflect them. Mewtwo did the same with another weapon among the debris. With it, he sliced the incoming wall into two halves with an absurdly clean cut. The weapon was a yellow beam sword, which he then swung at Lucas.

For some reason, Lucas couldn't attack. He kept defending by parrying the sword slashes over and over with his stick and healed himself whenever a cut got through. The wounds didn't bleed since the heat of the energy sword cauterized them on its own. A sensation he was all too familiar with. Sparks flew from the energy sword as Lucas struggled to hold it back with a mere wooden stick.

"T-that's not yours, it's my brother's...Give it back!" Lucas's voice was shaky, very disturbed by Mewtwo using that particular weapon. The cat-like Pokemon was unfazed and put more force into his swing, enough to knock Lucas away and knock the Mystical Stick out of his hands, disarming him. _Blink. _Instantly, he was right behind Lucas, about to slash again until he saw something else behind him. The machine on top of that strange tower from before was charging something. Specifically, it fired a high voltage lightning bolt directly at the two of them. _Blink. _Mewtwo disappeared just as it reached them, causing it to fry Lucas instead...At least it would have if not for something else.

[The Franklin Badge reflected the lightning back!]

The machine was fried by its own shot, causing a huge explosion that made the entire building start to collapse. It also brought back another memory: the last time he destroyed this thing.

* * *

It was during the earlier half of his journey, before they learned about the mysterious Seven Needles. Back then, Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney were just doing whatever they could to end the Pigmask Army's control and corruption of their village, and this Thunder Tower played a major role in that. Ever since Fassad started bringing "Happy Boxes", money, and technology to change their way of life, lightning 'coincidentally' kept striking at or near the houses of those who didn't buy any 'Happy Boxes', and Lucas was the only one who remained defiant.

Eventually, Lucas and friends made their way to the top and finally destroyed the generator, but that wasn't the end of it: they met Fassad himself after that, who tried to cowardly escape on the nearby airship while ordering it to destroy the disabled tower and them with it. Luckily, he slipped on his own dropped banana peel and fell to a very deserved death. At least he should have, except he was rebuilt as a cyborg to face them again later.

More importantly, back then they escaped death by grabbing the rope ladder of the nearby ship, which put them face to face with a masked man staring down at them who Lucas felt a strange psychic connection with. 'Man' wasn't the best term: He was a boy about Lucas's age who carried an unusual sword...

* * *

Mewtwo stopped himself in midair, pausing for a moment as Lucas continued to fall. He closed his eyes, lost in thought as he connected the dots with the help of a little mind reading. This made him drop the beam sword.

_"I see...so you ended up fighting your brother. So did I."_

"Huh?!"

_Blink. _He appeared in front of Lucas and grabbed him with a three-fingered hand while he was too surprised to react. _Blink. _The scenery around them changed as Mewtwo teleported them both somewhere else. However, something unusual happened after what Mewtwo said. Before Lucas could see where they had warped to, he caught a glimpse into Mewtwo's memories this time instead of the other way around.

* * *

The first thing he saw was the sky: It was a dark and stormy night. How cliche. It suited the rest of what he saw, which was an intense battle between Mewtwo and none other than Mew, the legendary Pokemon whose DNA he was cloned from. The two psychic types were flying through the sky and clashing again and again while surrounding themselves with spheres of energy. Not only that, but another battle raged on on the ground, this one between many pairs of nearly identical Pokemon. However, the ones on Mewtwo's side looked slightly abnormal. Like him, they were clones, and Mewtwo was making them fight the originals to try to prove their superiority.

Lucas looked around some more, and saw there were humans there too, watching the battle anxiously. It turned out some of the Pokemon there were theirs, like the Pikachu, but there was nothing they could do to stop the battle. Both Mew and Mewtwo were trying to settle it once and for all by charging up attacks powerful enough that the stage lights for their arena shorted out. They looked evenly matched...

Then one of the humans ran right in between them, telling them to stop just as they fired. Lucas tried telling him to stop and pull him out of the way, but he only passed through him like a ghost. It did not end well for the boy who was somehow turned to stone by the two psychic attacks. The boy's death made his Pikachu cry as he pointlessly tried to revive him with his electricity...the other Pokemon (besides Mewtwo and Mew) were also brought to tears at the sight of this. So were the humans.

So was Lucas. It wasn't the first time he had seen someone die, but he would never get used to it. Especially not when the kid only looked about ten years old, even younger than Lucas.

"H-how could you do this?! Because of your fight that boy is d...d-!" Lucas was cut off as Mewtwo's telepathic voice interrupted him.

_"He is not...Just watch."_

Sure enough, what Mewtwo said was true. Lucas was left speechless as the tears of all the Pokemon, both original and clone, somehow revived the boy who was unusually young to be adventuring around the world and joining such dangerous battles. In the memory, even Mewtwo was moved by the sight of the opposing Pokemon grieving together to bring back the petrified child. He obviously didn't cry like the others, but it changed his perspective on life completely, causing him to reconcile his differences with Mew. It was best summarized with what the past version of Mewtwo said next.

"I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant...It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are."

The memory started to fade away after that, giving Mewtwo some more time to explain it.

_"As you can see, he survived, and I decided I no longer needed to prove my superiority to Mew for my existence to have meaning. I recently met another clone named 'Pittwo', and he has similar thoughts about being able to choose his own identity despite being a 'freak of nature'..."_

It was a good thing the fight between Mewtwo and Mew had ended well. That was what Lucas told himself, but something about it got to him. Seeing Mewtwo resolve his duel against the closest thing he had to a brother so peacefully made him more than a little jealous...He prepared to fight, focusing PSI in his hands as Mewtwo spoke up again.

_"But enough talk. Let us settle this!"_

And so, they returned to the location they had teleported to.

* * *

Lucas found himself in a familiar, yet disturbing location. They were in a hallway lined with many automatic metal doors, the floor being light blue with a hexagonal pattern. The air was very stale and sterile, and cameras watched their every move. This was definitely a laboratory, but not just any laboratory...He remembered how terrible experiments were conducted here. The scientists here took countless animals apart and 'reconstructed' them by fusing them with other animals or machines to create disturbing and violent abominations known as "Chimeras".

This was the Chimera Lab. Just seeing it made Lucas tense up, and he didn't hesitate to destroy some of it by blasting Mewtwo with PK Love, sending him flying through one of the automatic doors and into a room full of small and large glass tubes filled with strange liquid and...things that made Lucas sick to his stomach. Some had animals in them, some only parts of animals. Others had disturbing hybrid and cyborg Chimeras, and a number of them including the one Mewtwo crashed into had humans in them. The tube shattered to pieces when Mewtwo collided with it, sending glass shards flying while water and the unfortunate man inside spilled out onto the ground. Whoever he was, he was still alive, somehow not feeling pain and talking in a slurred voice as he repeated the same line over and over.

*glub**glub* "This feels sooooo niiiice...I...want to help Master Porky..."

This was how the Pigmask Army got its recruits: brainwashing. Even Mewtwo was disturbed as he healed himself with Recover and hurled the scattered glass shards back at Lucas, who defended himself with a PSI Shield. This wasn't just a nightmare, but was based on true events in Lucas's life. There were also a few glass tubes that had Pokemon in them, a sign of Mewtwo's mental influence starting to take over, and one with a human girl who somehow felt familiar. It was giving Mewtwo a serious headache as he tried to remember when he last saw her, but couldn't...

They were both distracted from those thoughts by many sounds filling the laboratory. First was the blaring sound of alarms, then pattering of many footsteps, and what sounded like pigs squealing...That was what a Pigmask sounded like when they screamed since their helmet also worked as a voice changer. Then there were heavy _thuds_ from something heavy walking, and a _crunch _followed by more and much louder squeals.

Then, a deafening silence.

Lucas's clutched his chest, feeling his heart racing so fast it was practically bursting out of it. It had to be his worst memory of this place, and the most terrifying thing in the Chimera Lab. A demonic beast that should never have been created let alone set loose on an unsuspecting world. Mewtwo was left confused why Lucas seemingly ignored him, giving him an easy opening to blast him into the wall with a Shadow Ball. Then he decided to see what had distracted them. _Blink. _Just then, it went around the corner and was right in their sights, only a few feet away from Mewtwo.

_"What in the name of Arceus?!"_

Mewtwo saw a red, four-legged creature with a devil-like tail, tiny bat-like wings too small to fly with, yellow bloodshot eyes with no pupils, an equally yellow bird sitting on its head, a button on its back, but most importantly an absolutely massive mouth which somehow took up most of its body and had many rows of incredibly sharp teeth which were stained a darker red than its skin...It was chewing the severed arm of a Pigmask, one of many victims whose remaining body parts that weren't devoured whole and blood covered the floor of the hallway it came from. It promptly dropped the arm when it saw new prey, making a loud "SHING" sound followed by an all too familiar roar.

It was the Ultimate Chimera.

"AHHH! RUN!" Lucas got up from the ground and ran in a panic, sprinting down the hallway as fast as he could until he was out of its sight. He practically burst into a nearby room, closing the door behind him and hoping he could hide and escape from its murderous rampage like he had before. He didn't dare take the time to look back and check what happened to Mewtwo, but he heard another _blink_ just before the loud crushing sound of metal being torn apart. Then a few seconds later, more squeals.

Mewtwo suddenly appeared next to him and surprisingly, he did not attack. For now. Instead he for once had something besides that emotionless stoic expression, his eyes widened in shock by the horrific things in this child's mind. He was also irritated that they were making it difficult to fight normally, but that was less important.

_"What is wrong with you?! A child's mind should NOT look like a horror movie!"_

Lucas didn't say anything as he trembled in fear. He stuck next to the wall and watched the door nervously, not wanting to make a sound the Ultimate Chimera could hear. He could have used telepathy, but he was too terrified to think straight.

_"I have observed many humans and their strange thought patterns, and they are nothing like this. A teenage boy like you should have a mind full of frivolous thoughts, such as how 'lame' you think your parents are, or how you want to act in a way that is appealing and 'cool' to your peers, or what Pokemon you will catch next on your adventure across the world that your parents let you go on completely unsupervised, or how to obey the raging hormones you humans have and engage in your ridiculous courting rituals, or...I believe I have made my point."_

Lucas's body loosened just a little, slightly less terrified now that the Ultimate Chimera had gone elsewhere. He could hear more squeals in the distance which meant it had pursued the others instead. The psychic boy calmed down just enough to remember he was in fact, psychic.

_"I know I'm weird, but it's all true...It's a long story...how do I say this...Uh..." _He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, trying to breathe normally and stay calm. All this adrenaline was not making it easy to concentrate... _"Well, long story short, some really bad people called the 'Pigmask Army' used this lab to make all kinds of monsters and robots, and they ruined all the nice stuff about my village, so I had to stop them. It was really scary sometimes, like when I went here, but in the end me and my friends took them down..." _Lucas awkwardly summarized his journey while leaving out many details. He was still staring at the door instead of Mewtwo since he was very intimidating. It was no wonder his ability was called "Pressure".

Mewtwo held his chin pensively, seeing the implications of what Lucas said. _"So you were a child soldier." _He didn't say it like a question, but a statement of a fact based on the evidence of Lucas's story and all the memories he had seen so far. Meanwhile the squeals in the distance had stopped.

Lucas winced a little at that description. _"Um...It's not like anyone _forced _me to fight, and I wasn't in an army...I just had to stop them or else everything would get destroyed if Claus pulled the final Needle..." _He shuddered at the thought of if it had ended differently. The Dark Dragon reflected the heart of whoever pulled its Needles, either filling the world with good or evil, but if someone had _no _heart when they awakened it...it could have been the end of everything. Except for Porky, who was perfectly fine with the possibility of watching everyone die while safe inside his Capsule. Lucas clenched his fists, trying not to think about his _unfounded revenge_.

_"...You are giving me more questions than answers."_

It looked like Mewtwo was taking the time to chat with Lucas instead of fight, but that was only partly true. As they were talking, Mewtwo was using his psychic power to slowly take over more of the mental world, trying to win the less painful way while getting some answers from the only fellow psychic in this tournament who he hadn't met before. The child's mind was just proving more resilient than he thought since he expected to have won already. However, their conversation was cut short.

THUD

The metal door to their room bulged inwards as something slammed into it. "Ahhhh!" Lucas screamed and jumped back towards the wall, terrified of their impending demise. Mewtwo remained calm and glowed with purple psychic energy, deciding to get some more useful information while preparing to fight. He could sense an extreme psychic presence, indicating that when Lucas saw it in real life he thought of it as incredibly powerful, perhaps even invincible, which is what made it so powerful in his mind.

_"What is this creature? Does it have any weaknesses? I need answers, now!"_

CRASH

The door was sent flying off its hinges, forcing Lucas to jump out of the way to not get crushed by it. He stammered in a panic, trying to talk as the Ultimate Chimera made the same terrifying "SHING" and roar as always.

"W-w-weaknesses? Its weakness is..uh..." For a moment, he panicked and couldn't remember. Then it rushed towards them, opening its giant maw which was even bloodier than before, full of the chewed remains of the other Pigmasks. That jolted his memory as well as nearly making him puke.

"It's the B-B-BUTTON! HIT IT!" Lucas covered his eyes and winced as it jumped right at him, about to devour him whole with its dozens of fangs...

_Click. _Mewtwo threw one of the room's cameras into the button telekinetically, making it stop as its fangs started to poke into Lucas's pajamas. The lights in its eyes went out, as it had been turned off. Its only weakness to compensate for its invincibility and instant-kill nature was that it was battery-powered and could be disabled. Lucas awkwardly tore himself free of its jaws, tearing his pajamas slightly. He was grossed out having to see the gorey stuff in its mouth, and some of the blood even got on his pajamas. Now he sighed in relief, glad he only had Mewtwo to worry about as he ran out of the room.

SHING

The bird on its flew down and pressed the button, turning it on again. Then the button somehow receded inside its body, making it no longer possible to press and now truly invincible. Lucas ran out into the hallways while Mewtwo sighed, grabbed Lucas again, then...

_Blink. _

Just like that, they escaped, teleporting to another room of the Chimera Lab. Lucas was at first relieved, and then annoyed. And then envious. He pouted at Mewtwo, puffing his cheeks. "Why didn't you do that earlier?! Teleporting is no fair...I wish I could do that..." He glared out of jealousy, trying to look as intimidating as he could...

[It wasn't very effective.]

Mewtwo was completely ignoring him, instead staring at something behind him. Lucas finally gave up and turned around to see what it was. It left him in a stunned silence.

This room was one built around operating tables meant for taking things apart and rebuilding them, and was full of medical tools for doing so. One of them was small, just the right size for a human. That one was empty. The other was very large, so big that it could even fit a Drago on it, which was a dinosaur-like creature big enough to stomp on tanks. It did in fact have a Drago on it, one that had just been 'reconstructed': A Mecha-Drago. As it jumped at Lucas and Mewtwo, a memory took over the area, specifically the one Lucas least wanted to remember.

It was when he first saw a Mecha-Drago.

* * *

(Author's Note: I know this chapter has a lot of flashbacks from MOTHER 3 and the Mewtwo movie, but it's because I wanted to make sure those who haven't played the game or watched the movie before know the relevant backstory. Assuming they don't care about spoilers, otherwise they wouldn't be reading this fic...Hopefully. The reason it took so long is because I was trying to fit the entire Lucas vs Mewtwo in Magicant battle into one chapter when I realized recently I planned enough for it to be more like two, so I just cut off this half of the fight here which resulted in another cliffhanger. Sorry. However since I have some of the next chapter done already, it should be out sooner than usually...Probably.

As usual, I don't own either the Mewtwo movie or MOTHER 3 or any of the scenes/plot points in them including the ones shown here. I hope the flashbacks aren't making this too unoriginal but there shouldn't be as many in the future when it isn't a battle inside the mind like this. Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated and thanks for reading!)


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Bad Luck

(Author's Note: I'm so sorry this chapter took three whole weeks and then some. I shouldn't make excuses, but part of it was that this ended up being a very long chapter like Chapter 7...and the other part was that I got Fire Emblem Three Houses and it's really addicting. Sorry about that.

Like with last chapter, there will be lots of spoilers for MOTHER 3 and the Pokemon movie "Mewtwo Strikes Back". Also, some of the memories in this chapter have violence, blood, and character death. You have been warned.

But before that, I should show the battle outside their heads too. You can skip it if you want, but you'll be missing out on some stuff.)

The crowd was disappointed by the psychic duel.

With their regular five senses, all the hundreds of Mii spectators and about a dozen Smash Brothers could see was a strange looking cat grabbing the blonde boy's weird hair, closing his eyes, and then...nothing. The two of them were so still it was as if they were trying to win like they were Luigi in a Mario Party minigame.

"Why are they just standing there..?" Another blonde boy besides Lucas gave voice to the question many were thinking. The surprisingly not mute boy wearing a green tunic sat in a special VIP area near the top of the spectator stands, which was reserved for fighters only. It gave them a perfect view of the battle, plus some privacy from the many Mii fans. Sitting next to him was Ness, who was getting another handful from his bag of popcorn until he paused to answer.

"Trust me, they're not _just_ standing there: They're fighting it out inside their own heads! You weren't around back then, but me and Mewtwo did the same thing back in Melee...Man, those days were nice, other than that fight." Ness went back to his popcorn, thinking back to the old days of the 'Melee' tournament. There were some things he missed from back then...and some people.

Toon Link looked back at Ness, reminded of the same look Ness had when he first met him in 'Brawl'. A look of recognition, as if he knew him from before, yet didn't. "Yeah...I wish I could have met the other Link, you always made him sound really cool." They rarely ever said it out loud, but many thought Master Hand had 'replaced' the Link they now called 'Young Link' with him, and it made things tense between him and Ness, one of Young Link's best friends, at first. What made it even worse was the history lesson he gave him: When Ganondorf finally broke free of his seal, the Hero of Time had disappeared when he was needed most, leaving Hyrule undefended. As a result, the gods had to flood the entire kingdom to bury the evil king and his armies beneath the waves, but even then he came back a while later. That left it up to him, the new Link, to take him him down once and for all. Ness had _not_ been happy to hear someone say his friend abandoned his kingdom...

After much awkwardness, he found out it was all just a misunderstanding. He hadn't known until he talked to Sheik that Young Link had been sent back to the past after defeating Ganon, creating a parallel timeline where Ganondorf was stopped early on, which was why he was gone in the other timeline. He did even more heroic deeds despite having a kid's body after that, including destroying the moon before it could crash into the earth...that one was hard to believe.

Ness finished chewing his popcorn. "I'll say it again, he really did blow up the moon! Even Pit blew up the moon once. Then again...that was no moon!" Toon Link just raised an eyebrow in response, even more doubtful now.

"Suuure he did. But speaking of Link, I met the new one earlier. He says some angel picked a fight with him for no reason and broke his Clawshot, so he had to get an assist fighter to fix it. Now he's looking for a rematch, but he can't find him...I wonder who that was." It wasn't much of a question.

Ness adjusted his cap nervously. "Haha, sorry about that...Pit's probably busy in Palutena's temple learning how to re-uh...I mean reflect! Yeah, he's got these fancy orb thingies instead of the mirror shield now." He almost gave away Pit's illiteracy, so Ness quickly changed the topic. "So what do you think of the new Link? I heard he's from waaaay back in the history books, so I hope you gave him a spoiler alert. Your timelines are weird enough already..." Even though Ness had traveled through time before to beat Giygas, he still honestly had no idea how it worked without breaking all laws of cause and effect.

Toon Link sweat a little at that realization. Thankfully he hadn't told him _that _much. "Don't worry, he told me more than I told him...He said there's a ghost named Fi sleeping in the sword, and because of her it can shoot beams!" He then unsheathed his Master Sword and pointed it skyward. As expected, it started glowing blue. "It's weird, though...He says he can use them all the time, but I can't use them if I'm hurt. What's with that?" He sheathed the sword again, not wanting to draw too much attention.

Ness held his chin pensively. "Who knows, maybe the ghost girl got weaker while she was taking a nap. Hey...does she ever talk in her sleep?"

"Now that you mention it, there _were _a few times I thought I was hearing voices..."

His memory went back to the one time he might have heard the ghost that stood out the most. He decided not to share it.

"Never mind, I think I was just crazy."

He was not, in fact, crazy, and Ness knew this for a fact when he listened in to his thoughts.

_("Master, I calculate a 99% probability that Tetra returns your romantic feelings. I also calculate a 100% probability that you are an idiot for not expressing them.")_

A grin spread across Ness's face as he 'accidentally' overheard it. "Ohhhhh, I see..." Ness playfully punched Toon's arm. "So you you still can't spit it out, huh? Maybe the Triforce should've chosen me instead."

Toon's face went as red as Ness's hat. "S-stop reading my mind!" He glared at Ness angrily, but it wasn't working well.

Ness gave a more apologetic look. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. You know, it wasn't easy for me either, but I'm sure you'll get there eventually...It can't be as bad as fighting Ganondorf, right?"

"Right...it's worse."

* * *

"Their teamwork is getting worse..."

A few rows above the boys sat two tacticians who looked almost like siblings: A woman with pigtails and a man with short hair, both having hair unusually white for their age. They wore dark robes that looked more than a few centuries out of date and hastily scribbled down notes into some equally old-fashioned tomes. Whenever their eyes weren't glued to the battlefield or the books, they exchanged a few glances and comments. Right now, the man commented how the strategies the remaining fighters used weren't as complicated as before. There were only two left who could still fight on each side, with the other two at a standstill behind a pillar of rock made by the arena's Earth transformation.

The female tactician had a mocking tone. "Must you state the obvious? Everyone knows removing the leader disorients the soldiers, _Robin_." For some reason, she didn't seem to like the other tactician.

The feeling was mutual. "At least I'm paying attention instead of arguing, _Reflet_." He hastily wrote down more notes on the battle after that, then erased some of them with his pencil. It was something that surprised Reflet, who used an old fashioned quill pen and had never before seen a pencil.

"...Just what kind of pen can erase the ink like that?"

Robin held up the pencil and showed it to Reflet. "Oh, this? It's not a pen, and uses graphite instead of ink, so it can be erased. I bought this from one of those 'Miis'. It's curious how they are all named after numbers...anyways, he said it's known as a 'pencil'. He said it isn't mightier than the sword, but I disagree: it's truly a marvelous invention! It's a shame you don't have one." The sarcasm in his voice made it obvious what he was implying.

Reflet scowled back at him, closing her tome for now. "Unlike you, I don't _need _one."

"Is that a challenge? I'll take it. We've established that our grand strategies were nearly identical, so let's compare how we did on the tactical level. Name a battle, any battle."

"Fine, I'll play your game. How about the Battle of Breakneck Pass?" Reflet opened another tome, magically making it flutter to just the right page. Robin did the same with his own tome detailing his past battles and strategies so they could compare what was different.

"Ugh, I can still remember the ambushing wyvern riders from behind...What a pain that was."

"Right. So who dealt with them?"

"That's hardly even a question. Lon'qu was best suited for the task."

"The lead rider was a woman! Don't tell me you forgot how much he fears them..."

"Yes, and Lon'qu is a swordmaster! Don't tell me _you_ forgot the first rule about weapons..."

"Ah, but what of rule number four? Bows counter fliers, so Virion was the superior choice."

"You should know that ladies' man wouldn't dare shoot an attractive woman."

"Would he dare disobey one?"

"Gods, have you no shame?!"

This was the limit of Reflet's patience. "I should be the one saying that..." Finally, she admitted what made her hate her alternate self so much. At least part of it.

"...to the man _marrying my daughter_!"

Unfortunately, she was loud enough that someone else overheard her. Chrom and Lucina had just been returning to the spectator stands to sit near them after leaving to get some snacks. Snacks which Chrom dropped in surprise when he heard the news. Lucina barely caught them in time.

"He's doing WHAT?!"

Chrom unsheathed his sword and glared at Robin with murderous intent. Only now did he look close enough to notice the wedding ring on the tactician's finger, and the identical one Lucina was wearing.

Lucina stood between him and Robin protectively, her hand on her sheathed Parallel Falchion. "Father, please! In our world, I...we..." She looked to Robin pleadingly. He always had a talent for explaining complicated things.

"How do I say this...Chrom, please understand. Lucina and I come from a parallel timeline, so she isn't the Lucina you know. Everything in our world is just like in yours, except that I was born male, so you married Sumia instead of...well, _me_." Even with his life threatened, Robin couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of himself marrying Chrom in another timeline, even if he was technically a woman there.

Chrom blinked a few times, confused by all the talk of timelines and time travel. Then he glared at Robin again with slightly less murderous intent. "...I care not what world or time it is, my daughter is off limits!"

Reflet also stared down her alternate self with just as much hostility. "I agree. If you truly are my alternate self, I can't believe I would ever do something as disgusting as marry my best friend's daughter!"

Lucina's temper flared up at this as she now faced her fiancee's alternate self. "There's nothing disgusting about it..! I love Robin, and I won't let you insult him, even if you are my mother in another world!"

The four of them continued their standoff, drawing stares from the two boys and the penguin now sitting near them, a repeat kidnapping victim, a bounty hunter, a blue hedgehog, and someone with blue hair.

"So these are my descendants, the inheritors of my kingdom? I can hardly believe it still stands."

All four of them were struck speechless when they turned around and saw just who this man was. He may not have looked exactly like the legends said (Lucina's impersonation of him was more accurate than they thought with how 'pretty' he was), but his blue hair, that tiara, that royal outfit, and most of all his sword gave away his identity.

Robin gasped in shock. "It can't be...you're the Hero-King?!" He and the others could hardly believe their eyes considering Marth had died thousands of years ago at their point in time. They hadn't yet learned how Master Hand's godlike powers let him reach anywhere throughout space and time. This was their first time meeting Marth, since the one to recruit them to Smash in the first place had been Captain Falcon. That experience was especially painful for Chrom who had been on the receiving end of a Falcon Punch.

"I suppose I am, though I wish you wouldn't use that title. The true heroes were the soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice." Apparently he was as humble as the legends said, too.

Yet another royal stepped in alongside Marth, this time a princess in a frilly pink dress who offered something. "Instead of fighting, why don't we share some of this lovely tea?" It wouldn't be the first time she defused a conflict like this.

Chrom sheathed his Falchion, looking ashamed at what just happened. "...I should apologize. Hero K-" He cut himself off, remembering he didn't like the title. "...Or should I just call you grandfather? Wait...how many generations back are you?" Chrom left himself confused for a moment as he counted on his fingers, trying to remember what he read in the history books. It had been about two thousand years since Marth's era, and Exalts were encouraged to have an heir sooner rather than later for the sake of the royal bloodline, which meant there was around 20-25 years between each generation on average, so that would make him Chrom's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great...Chrom soon ran out of fingers to count on.

Marth sighed. "You may call me Marth. There's no need to make me feel so old..." Having to break up their conflicts like they were children made him feel old enough already.

"R-right. I'm sorry, Marth: Reflet and I shouldn't have been so quick to judge her counterpart." Reflet felt the same way, though she still didn't approve of her alternate self's actions. "...I suppose I should try not to hate myself _that _much."

"...And I should not have incited her so much." Robin had to admit he had said things he would not like to be on the receiving end of, which was proven by Reflet's reaction. Lucina sighed, relieved no one was threatening to murder her fiancee anymore.

[Robin and Reflet reached support level C.]

In the meantime, Marth looked back at the battle, which had progressed a lot more while they weren't looking. "Keep your eyes open. In a real war, wasting time bickering could cost lives..." Right now, the arena had switched to its Grass transformation, covering it with grass, a few bushes and rocks, and a few wooden platforms. The green environment was frequently set ablaze by Charizard, only for the flames to be extinguished by Greninja.

Robin observed the kind of attacks they threw at each other, and who they targeted, writing more in his tome as he talked. "Greninja keeps aiming for Charizard with water, but Pikachu keeps getting in his way...and Jigglypuff does the same to shield Greninja from Pikachu's lightning." All of them were a lot more damaged than before, so it was only a matter of time before some of them got knocked out of bounds.

Reflet noticed something else while hastily writing down notes. "Their strategy must have been to separate that healer from the others and then finish him off, but I doubt they expected it to take this long..." Indeed, Mewtwo and Lucas had been standing there in their mental duel for quite a while now.

Chrom on the other hand was confused as he stared at those two. "Just what are they doing standing there? Why doesn't one of their allies free them if they're stuck?" As if on cue, Charizard charged at Mewtwo right then, covering himself with flames and trying to hit him out of bounds and simultaneously free his substitute Trainer at the same time with Flare Blitz...

"Ninja!"

But right before he got there, Greninja used that chance to blast him off the stage and out of bounds with a Hydro Pump.

"CHARIZARD...DEFEATED!"

Right as Master Hand said that, a bolt of lightning crashed down on Greninja, who had turned himself back into a Water type with Protean and as a result, vulnerable to Pikachu's attack which sent him flying out of the arena.

"GRENINJA...DEFEATED!"

Now only Pikachu and Jigglypuff remained, staring each other down as the arena once again changed form, this time to the Fire transformation which had several trees and a small house, all of them on fire. Pikachu's cheeks sparked with electricity as he charged towards Jigglypuff, who kept floating around in the air to make herself hard to hit. He jumped and electrified the air near him, but missed the puffball who floated just out of range before hitting him with a Pound, knocking him into the nearby tree.

Robin started analyzing them in the way only a tactician could as they kept fighting. "With only the two of them left, it'll come down to individual skill..." He had a skill gained from experience that all tacticians and commanders had to varying degrees: to see the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy, their numbers, and more. Robin was just particularly good at it, as good as Reflet and even Marth.

Reflet joined in with a counterpoint. "Don't forget that luck is a part of every battle, too." And with their skills of observation, they could see people's attributes, like their strength, speed, magic power, and even how lucky they were. Pikachu had decent Luck while Jigglypuff's was a bit high, which made sense since they were both from popular species of Pokemon, especially Pikachu, and they also were lucky enough to be invited to Smash as part of the original twelve. But for one of the other fighters, it was the opposite.

Robin's eyes widened in shock. "Gods, that boy's luck is even worse than mine! How is that even possible?!" Robin had a habit of categorizing people's strengths and weaknesses into numbers to make it easier to remember the specific differences, but Robin had never before seen one with Luck below his own. This was very strange considering that Robin's whole life, at least his adult life since he had no memories before then, consisted of nothing but struggling against the cruel whims of fate. He had to stop the mad king of Plegia, prevent the terrible future Lucina came from, defeat an empire a million soldiers strong, and finally slay the fell dragon Grima, who he unknowingly was meant to be the vessel of. Surviving all of that would have been impossible without Lucina's knowledge of future and events and him being very, very prepared with his strategies. For someone to have _worse_ Luck than that, and at such a young age...

He and Reflet could only shudder in fear of what that meant.

* * *

Ness overheard them, and he knew exactly what that meant.

Back in the third tournament, Marth had also seen and was worried by Lucas's disturbingly low Luck, but when he asked about it Ness only gave him generic and vague answers about how Lucas 'had a rough past'. Just because Lucas eventually opened up and told him all the details didn't mean he could tell others. Marth's best guess was that Lucas had been a child soldier and lost his family to war, which was shockingly accurate...but not quite. A child soldier wouldn't have to be a one man army, or fight all the hardest battles themselves, or have the fate of the world depending on just them.

Being a kid chosen by destiny to be a 'hero' was actually a lot worse than that. Ness and Toon Link knew that a little too well, which made Ness sigh as the tacticians reminded him how Lucas had it even worse.

"What's the matter, little guy? You look a little down." It was a giant penguin wearing a fur coat, with an equally giant wooden hammer strapped to his back, which only someone like him could wield casually with one hand. In other words, King Dedede, a good friend of his ever since that time in Subspace.

Ness adjusted his cap, looking back at Lucas and Mewtwo. "It's nothing, really...I'm just a little worried about Lucas. I don't like the idea of someone messing with his head." His own psychic duel with Mewtwo in Melee brought back a few nightmares he thought he'd gotten rid of in his first trip to Magicant, so he could only imagine what it would be like for Lucas.

Dedede gave Ness a reassuring pat on the back which almost knocked him over. "Don't worry, that kid's tougher than he thinks. I'm sure he'll give that mind-controlling creepy cat a good clobbering!" Dedede had a bit of a history of being mind controlled or possessed and then turned against his friends like Kirby, so he had a bad first impression of anyone with those kinds of powers.

"Yeah, I hope so..." Ness looked back at the fight between Pikachu and Jigglypuff, watching how the electric mouse kept jumping up to try to bash his very floaty opponent. After exchanging a series of blows, Pikachu finally got a good hit with a Skull Bash that almost knocked Jigglypuff out of bounds. However Ness could sense with his PSI that Pikachu was seeing hearts after hitting her too many times, suddenly hesitating right when he was about to land a finishing attack.

[Cute Charm: Pikachu was infatuated!]

The balloon Pokemon didn't hesitate to use that opportunity to sing a soothing lullaby, making Pikachu's eyelids become heavy as he started to fall asleep...until he did something to keep himself awake.

"Piiiiii...KAAAAAAA!" Pikachu's body sparked with so much electricity that he glowed brighter than the stage lights. Even Pikachus like him had a limit to how much voltage they could output safely, which he had discovered back when he was used as a power source by the Subspace Army. Ever since then, he had a very high tolerance for pain...

Jigglypuff kept trying to hit him with backwards kicks, but they weren't very effective because every time she hit him, she would also be electrocuted, which left her vulnerable to more attacks. As they kept exchanging blows, Jigglypuff was getting knocked towards the edge of the stage now that she couldn't put him to sleep and didn't have any ranged attacks to avoid getting shocked. Just then, Pikachu suddenly gained the rainbow-colored aura of a Final Smash.

Toon Link blinked a few times to make sure it wasn't his imagination. "D-did he just get a Final Smash without a Smash Ball? That can't be possible...right?" He looked to Ness and Dedede with a very confused expression.

Ness had a nostalgic look. "Apparently not, since Palutena did it earlier too. There's gotta be some trick to it...I guess Pikachu just figured it out before us." As he said that, Pikachu surrounded himself with a blue sphere of lightning and flew around the stage at incredible speeds, using Volt Tackle to knock Jigglypuff back and forth through the air before finally launching her out of bounds.

"JIGGLYPUFF...DEFEATED!"

Pikachu then fell to the ground in exhaustion, too tired to pick himself back up again. All he could do was weakly say "Pika...", leaving the battle's outcome up to Mewtwo and Lucas, who were still doing 'nothing' even now as the arena changed back to its default state. As time continued to pass, it was clear the two of them had no idea what was going on outside, and it was leaving many in the crowd bored.

The audience kept watching as Lucas and Mewtwo remained still. Ness had stopped eating his popcorn by now, passing it to Toon Link. He was watching the battle much more intently than before even though nothing seemed to be happening...because he knew better. He closed his eyes, reflecting on his own experience in the land of his subconscious. It had been like a dream, but much more real, though 'nightmare' was a better term. He had to fight manifestations of his worst fears, culminating in a final battle against the worst parts of his personality...And now Lucas had to deal with both that and a stupid alien cat poking around in his head.

_Lucas...the stuff you've been through might've broken the average kid, but not you. You survived all that, so you can't let that jerk boss you around!_

* * *

Chapter 10.5: With Memories Like These, Who Needs Nightmares?

That friend, at least his consciousness, was currently in a forest that had been set ablaze. Lucas was seeing through the eyes of his ten-year old self: a little blonde boy who stuck close to his mother nervously as they hurried through the once peaceful forest. He coughed from the smoke filling the air and yelped in fear when he heard the sound of an explosion in the distance, causing him to cling to her for protection.

"Mom, why's the forest on fire? W-where are all the animals?! And what was that sound?"

It was another boy speaking, with orange hair and green eyes in contrast to Lucas's blonde and blue. He was for once almost as scared as Lucas, but did his best not to show it, even though he was still shaking. He didn't recognize the sound since he had never even heard an explosion before, but the closest comparison he could make was lightning. He always thought lightning was cool, but setting the forest on fire and endangering all the nice animals was definitely _not cool_.

"I don't know, Claus, but we have to get back to the village! Please follow me and stay _away_ from the fire!" She didn't raise her voice like this often, so when she did that meant it was really serious. The two children nodded and followed their mother in a hurry as she carefully navigated through the burning forest, running around the burning grass and trees while making sure to slow down enough so Lucas and Claus could keep up despite how small they and their legs still were.

They were currently in a rocky area near a cliffside in Sunshine Forest since they were coming back from their visit to Hinawa's father (and the kids' grandpa) Alec's cabin in the mountains. The time they spent there had been pleasant, and the kids had a lot of fun playing around in the forest. Lucas was still a little shy, but even he enjoyed joining Claus in their play-fight with one of the Dragos. As huge and powerful as they were, they were kind and peaceful creatu-

**ROAAARRRRRR!**

Or so she thought. The roar of a furious Drago startled them all, but they soon saw it wasn't an ordinary Drago. There was something different about the dinosaur-like being that clawed its way up the cliffside towards them, leaving huge gashes in the rock with its ridiculously sharp claws. For one, it was incredibly violent, which was making poor Lucas scream in panic as he saw it trying to get up to their level. More obviously, it looked different: large parts of its body were replaced with metal and machinery, including its left eye, left leg, tail, and the lower half of its mouth which now had steel teeth. It also had two red spike-like protrusions on its back now, and its left ear was just gone. The same Drago that had once been friendly to them was now...a mechanical monster.

"You poor creature...who did this to you?"

Hinawa was shocked by the Drago's radically different appearance, while Lucas screamed again and Claus was silent like a deer in the headlights (not that they had cars here). There was no way this could have happened naturally, so someone must have somehow changed it. Was that why it was chasing them now..? It wasn't in any shape to answer with anything but another bloodlusted roar. All that mattered now was getting away before it could finish climbing the cliff, so Hinawa grabbed her children's hands and urged them to go with her.

"Follow me!"

They ran as fast as they could, hearing another explosion in the distance and the painful sound of the Mecha-Drago clawing away more of the rock. Unfortunately, a dress wasn't the best for running around in, and it got caught on a nearby twig, leaving Hinawa stuck. She pulled at it frantically until some of the cloth was torn off the dress, freeing her and leaving something behind for others to find later.

Then the painful clawing sound finally stopped. They had gained some distance from it already, but Dragos were also surprisingly fast for their size. They had to use its size against it, going where the gaps in the trees were narrow enough for them to fit but not it. Unfortunately, even that didn't stop it completely. The ten year old Lucas kept looking back every few seconds as he ran in a panic, seeing the Drago they once played with tear down any trees in its way as it hunted them down. They repeated this pattern for a while until they found something different nearby: a river with a current going back towards the village. Dragos could do a lot of things, but with their weight swimming was not one of them.

But there was a problem: Hinawa knew she was fast enough to get to the river before it caught up, but Lucas and Claus with their shorter legs were not, and carrying them would slow her enough for it to catch up too. So she took a third option.

"You have to run! Go to the river, it'll carry you to the village!" She knew the danger of hypothermia, but it was much less than the danger of being eaten alive. As long as someone helped warm them up again once they washed up, they would be fine.

Lucas hesitated, his voice shaking. "N-no, a-aren't you coming too Mom?!" He didn't want to go home without her. At this point he didn't really understand the concept of death, he just didn't want his mom to be anywhere near the once nice but now very scary Drago.

"I'll catch up as soon as I can, just GO!" Saying that made Lucas and Claus ran in a panic while she picked up a nearby twig. Before the Mecha-Drago could get any closer, she turned it into a makeshift torch using the nearby flames and threw it at the Drago to distract it. It roared in pain, now focused fully on her as she did her best to run away in a slightly different direction than her kids.

Unfortunately, something got its attention again a few moments later: the sound of a twig snapping under Lucas's feet, causing him to trip. Him screaming in panic when it turned to look at him again made it change course completely and roar again as it rushed towards him and his brother, who was trying to help him up...

Something gave Hinawa a terrible headache as she saw the Drago pursue her kids. It was said by the strange Magypsies that some people could awaken their true potential in a moment of extreme stress, like having one's head shoved underwater for so long that you couldn't hold your breath for example. That was nothing compared to how stressful this was. Like the Drago, which was also a mother, Hinawa didn't like violence unless it was to protect her children. She didn't know what happened to change it so much, but she would do anything to stop it.

[Something awoke inside Hinawa!]

[Hinawa learned Lifeup α!]

[Hinawa learned Healing α!]

[Lastly, power welled up from deep within her heart!]

[Hinawa learned PK Love α!]

[Hinawa learned how to use PSI!]

Lucas covered his eyes and whimpered as the Mecha-Drago was about to eat him for lunch when...

"Stay away from my sons!"

A hexagonal explosion of some very bright weird looking energy hit the Mecha-Drago's jaw, cracking one of its teeth and saving Lucas from becoming its lunch. He was too paralyzed with both surprise and fear to move, and so was Claus. At least until the same weird energy glowed around them, somehow sending them flying into the air and towards the nearby river. It didn't hurt at all unlike what happened to the Drago, who furiously retaliated against the one who hurt its tooth with a giant bite-

Lucas was helpless, unable to do anything but scream as he watched what happened next.

"MOOOOOOM-!"

[Hinawa took mortal damage.]

Lucas's desperate scream turned to gurgling as the river's water filled his mouth. What he saw as the relentless currents carried him away would be etched in his mind forever. His mother, pierced through the heart by the Drago's fang. He saw her blood, so much of it. He felt the water, which was so cold, and coughed it up while treading water and trying to keep breathing. He heard her screams of pain, but even then she somehow grabbed onto the fang piercing her fatally and did something.

[Hinawa tried PK Love α!]

He saw an almost blindingly bright light that exploded inside the Mecha-Drago's mouth in a multicolored, hexagonal pattern. It cracked several more teeth and tore the Drago Fang right out of its socket, leaving it stuck inside Hinawa as the explosion's recoil forcibly removed her body from its mouth and sent her flying into a nearby tree, which splintered from the impact. She was bleeding even more now that all its teeth except one were no longer plugging up the wounds. The Mecha-Drago faced Hinawa again, the pain making it forget about the others.

The Mecha-Drago's madness grew even more than what it was programmed to feel as it was enraged by losing one of its fangs. It charged at her again, swinging its tail to crush her body into the tree.

[The Mecha-Drago attacks!]

Lucas heard a few snapping noises as the river carried him and Claus away. One of them was the tree. The others...he didn't know what they were.

[Hinawa took mortal damage.]

Even while fatally wounded twice, Hinawa was somehow still conscious. It happened sometimes that people who took mortal damage could try to keep fighting before their body gave in, and it wasn't impossible to survive if they could heal themselves in time.

[Hinawa tried Lifeup α!]

But it didn't work. Even the strange psychic power she gained couldn't make her body fix itself before her strength gave out. The Drago Fang was still stuck there, so she couldn't close up the wound that mattered most. She had saved her children, but she would be leaving them and her husband behind. As a result, her heart broke in every sense of the word.

[Hinawa gave her final breath.]

This was the last thing the ten year old Lucas saw as the river washed him and Claus away. He was in the water of the river, but there was another kind of water coming from his eyes. He was crying.

There was also a strange-looking cat watching him.

Mewtwo watched as Lucas reverted to his ten year old state, leaving him completely defenseless to psychic attack. The mental landscape was already being overwritten by Mewtwo's, causing the environment to distort and 'glitch' as burning trees turned to cold steel walls, the dirt stained with blood became a sterile laboratory floor, and the water of the river gave way to a strange liquid that filled several large glass cylinders in the room. There was nothing stopping him from winning, but...

[For some reason, Mewtwo couldn't attack.]

Something about this felt just so _familiar _to Mewtwo. Was it the sight of the boy crying while already underwater? No, it couldn't be that, for Mewtwo knew he had never once cried in all of his life. Was it the emotion he sensed from him, the feeling of overwhelming loss and grief? No...it couldn't be that either, because he hadn't been built to care enough to feel loss.

He saw some other occupants floating inside the other glass tubes in the laboratory. There was a Charmander, a Bulbasaur, and a Squirtle, but they had a few stripes and spots that normal versions of those species didn't have. They were clones like him. Speaking of himself, Mewtwo found that he didn't look like he normally did. He was smaller than usual and even looked cute instead of intimidating, because he was much younger now. He had no memories of being this age...

There was also a human girl, the same one from before that he didn't recognize. Just looking at her made Mewtwo clutch his head in pain, and she was distorting continuously as if something was preventing him from seeing her. His body glowed purple with psychic power as he put everything he had into overcoming that mental block...

[Mewtwo used Amnesia!]

* * *

Mewtwo had returned to some of his earliest memories, and the only ones he had ever forgotten. He was floating in a glass cylinder full of a strange liquid, with many tubes connected to his body that gave him the nutrients he needed. This was where he was born, or rather, _made_. He remembered some of the first thoughts he ever had.

_Where am I...? __Who am I...? What am I...?_

Mewtwo heard some sounds other than his own mental voice and the soft bubbling of the liquid. They were coming from two people outside where he was, who were talking to each other.

"It's just like all the other clones, Doctor. It hasn't gained consciousness."

"I just don't understand it; its other vital signs are strong! We're measuring brain activity..." Mewtwo didn't hear the rest of it and didn't understand what it meant, but he could sense an emotion that felt like..frustration. He was a little frustrated too, wishing he knew what they were saying.

_I sense others near me...but what are those strange sounds they make..?_

_"Those are words. They're talking."_

Mewtwo gasped in surprise, turning to the direction of the voice which was higher pitched than his own, although his voice definitely wasn't deep since he was so young. He couldn't understand human speech yet, but he could understand the thoughts that made those words mean something, which was let him understand whatever this was. Even though his eyes were still closed and he hadn't moved in the real world, he saw something glow as it appeared in the world of his mind, something that looked very different from him. It was a little bigger than him, was wearing something unlike him, and had blue hair also unlike him (since he didn't have any hair).

_"What are you?"_

_"What do you mean? I'm a girl. A human!" _

He floated a little closer, curious to what the human meant. _"A human? Am I a human?" _Mewtwo wondered whether he was a 'girl' too, but somehow he felt the answer was no. He actually didn't have a gender, much like many other Legendary Pokemon. However, that wasn't the reason the voices outside called him 'it': it was because they didn't think of him as a person.

She floated a little closer too, taking a closer look at him. _"Well, you look like a Pokemon, but you talk! I didn't know a Pokemon could talk like a human!"_

_"Pokemon? Human? What are those?"_ He tilted his head quizically. _"__...Which one am I?"_

_"Maybe it makes a difference to you if you're a Pokemon or a human, but not to me." _She did a little twirl, giggling. _"If you're in this place, then I guess you must be the same as all of us are."_

More voices could be heard, each saying part of their name as they appeared out of thin air. Mewtwo had unconsciously brought them into his mind just like he did with the girl earlier.

_"Saur!" "Char!" "Squirtle!"_

They looked like a Charmander, Squirtle, and Ivysaur, only with a few stripes and marks those Pokemon didn't normally have, not that Mewtwo knew that at that age. The three of them plus Mewtwo and the girl gathered in a circle as they floated in the empty void that was Mewtwo's mental world.

_"Everybody here is a copy. That's why there's a 'two' after all our names."_

_"I don't understand..."_

_"They call me 'Ambertwo', but I'm still really Amber."_

Then the five of them spun in the friendship circle they made, with each of the cloned Pokemon saying part of their name again except Mewtwo, who still didn't know his name. Ambertwo just laughed instead since she wasn't a Pokemon. Even though he didn't know his name like the others, it felt nice being around them. It was better than being lonely like he was before.

But something distracted him from the fun they were having. It was something else he heard from outside, this time something he could understand: more thoughts. Even at this young of an age, Mewtwo's psychic powers were already greater than any human psychic could ever dream of, which meant he could easily hear the thoughts of anyone nearby as if they were said out loud. What he hadn't learned was how to turn that sense off...because of that, he ended up hearing the thoughts of the man in the lab coat with glasses. They were:

_Please...please let my theories be true...I must see my little girl smile again._

Mewtwo was able to see through his eyes as the man strangely started looking at a scene which wasn't taking place in the present. In other words, the doctor was having a flashback. In it he was standing next to a computer and a smaller version of the glass tube that Ambertwo was in now, and was looking up at a woman wearing a ring who stood at the top of a set of stairs.

She looked sad as she observed what the lab coat man had made. "Dear..."

He on the other hand was anything but sad as he explained himself. "I've reawakened her consciousness here in this chamber! I just need to keep it viable long enough to complete the process."

She looked angry and confused at what he said. "Why are you doing this?! You can't bring Amber back."

He pointed to the glass tube which had something glowing that looked like Amber in it, and the computer next to it which had some kind of weird readings about whatever was going on.

"You're wrong! Look! She lives within this light. Her energy is undeniable! If my cloning theories are correct, we'll have Amber back with us one day soon!"

The memory changed to another one just after that. One presumably a while after the previous one where the lab coat man opened an envelope in the mail, which contained a letter that he read and a ring. The letter said:

("I loved our daughter as much as you did, but she's gone. No one can bring her back, and I can't go on watching you try.

I'm sorry. Goodbye.")

There was only one other thought Mewtwo heard from Dr. Fuji after seeing his memory.

_I'll do anything to see you again..._

All the man's thoughts left the young Mewtwo very confused. Amber couldn't be gone, could she? What did it even mean for someone to be 'gone'? Why would anyone need to bring her back when she was right there with him? ...She was really Amber like she said, wasn't she? What did that make him if he had a 'two' after his name too? He had a lot of unanswered questions, but he tried not to think about them, because it made him too confused. And worried.

More time passed. The next memory Mewtwo regained was about something that happened a few days later, maybe more. The first thing he heard in it was the humans outside again, this time Dr. Fuji talking to the same man from earlier who had mistakenly said Mewtwo hadn't gained consciousness. They were walking through the hallway near the room Mewtwo and the other clones were in as they talked, starting with Dr. Fuji asking a question.

"So, how are they doing today?"

"You should be very pleased, Doctor. The Pokemon clones are in stable condition and Mewtwo is getting stronger every day. One of them is bound to survive. It looks like all our hard work is finally paying off!" At this point, he was able to understand that they were talking about him and all the other 'twos'. That meant 'Mewtwo' had to be his real name...So was there a 'Mew' without the two out there? And what did 'one of them is bound to survive' mean..?

"Yes, Giovanni will be very happy, I'm sure. He may soon have the most powerful Pokemon in the world. But I'll get something much more precious: knowledge. Of how to recreate life. Then...I'll use it to bring her...back."

Mewtwo still didn't understand what they were talking about. He hadn't ever seen anyone die, so he couldn't comprehend the concept of death and trying to bring someone back yet. All their talking just confused him, so he tried to tune it out.

Instead, he found something else to do besides listen to them. Ambertwo had brought him and the other 'twos' to somewhere special. The world of Mewtwo's mind was now not so empty anymore as a vast landscape filled it. As the five of them floated in the air, they could see many houses, some roads, a street lamp near them, and some mountains in the distance. It looked like a small town, not that Mewtwo knew what that meant at that age. He looked in awe at the place that was so different from what he was used to.

_"I call this my 'Remember Place'. This is where I used to live." _That was only half true. Ambertwo had never actually lived in this town, but she was created to have the same mind and the memories of Amber who had. Something else appeared in the sky as she said that. It was so bright Mewtwo had to avert his eyes instead of looking directly at it, and it had made the sky bright and blue instead of dark like it was before.

_"What is that?"_

_"That's the Sun."_

_"What is it for?"_

_"It makes the whole world bright, and it keeps us warm all day." _Mewtwo reached out his arms towards the sun in curiosity, as if trying to grab it in his hands, until a strong gust blew in his face, making him close his eyes and try to shield himself with his arms. He was confused again after that, until Ambertwo explained what it was too.

_"That's called 'wind'." _The wind was pushing her somewhat long hair to make it point east, towards a nearby tree that was full of apples.

_"Wind?" _They started flying again instead of floating in place and explored the town from Ambertwo's memories, enjoying all the sights and buildings.

_"The wind helps us along. Sometimes it's soft, and sometimes it's very strong!" _As they were flying, the sky started changing color quickly, going from blue to orange as the sun started dipping below the horizon. It was so beautiful, especially for someone who had never seen a sunset before that Mewtwo was left speechless as he watched the unusually rapid change in time of day that could only happen in someone's imagination.

_"And that's the sunset. That's when the Sun says "good night, see you tomorrow!"." _The sky got darker after that, but not as dark as Mewtwo expected. He was watching something else that had risen in place of the sun and brightened up the sky a little with a soft silver glow.

_"Is _that_ a sun?"_

Ambertwo struggled to hold back laughter._ "No, that's the moon. And the stars are little lights that twinkle all night just so we won't feel alone in the dark!" _The starry sky was always beautiful to see...but they soon saw something not so beautiful.

"Char..." Something was happening to Charmandertwo. The small fiery lizard had a sad, scared expression as parts of him started fading away into a blue light. Then...he was gone.

"Squirtle..." "Bulba..." Mewtwo could only watch in confusion as the same thing started happening to Squirtletwo and Bulbasaurtwo. Before long, they had also faded away completely from the mental world, and though he didn't see it, they had dissolved in the real world too much to the frustration of the men and women in lab coats. He looked at where they had just been, and then back at Ambertwo.

_"Where did they go?"_

But she didn't answer. It was because the same thing was slowly happening to her, too...

_"What's wrong, Amber? What's happening?"_

_"It feels...like it's time to say goodbye."_

_"Goodbye..?"_

She didn't answer again. As she started fading away, the moon and the stars had all disappeared, leaving the sky dark once again.

_"Amber...I'm in the glass, in the water, but there's another water coming from my eyes...what are these?" _Mewtwo rubbed his eyes, which had become watery for some reason.

_"They're tears. You're crying."_

_"Crying?" _The rest of the world started fading away as he said that. All the buildings, roads, and grass below were disappearing, just like Ambertwo was.

_"Papa said that living things only cry when they're in pain, and only humans cry because they're sad."_

His eyes were watering up again. _"I'm so...sad..." _Did that mean he was a human too..?

_"I have to go..." _Ambertwo was getting more and more transparent.

_"Why?!" _Almost all of the world of her memories was gone as she gave her last words.

_"I don't know. But it's alright. Thank you for caring about me. And don't cry, Mewtwo. You should be happy! You're alive, and life is wonderful..." _The last word echoed several times as the last of the girl and her memories faded away, leaving Mewtwo alone in the void of his mind again.

[Ambertwo gave her final breath.]

_"These tears...what good are they?"_

_"Please Amber, come back! Don't go, please! AMBEEEEER!"_

Mewtwo felt so much fear. Not just his own fear of Ambertwo going away, but _everyone else's at once_. All the men and women in lab coats were so scared of him, like he was some kind of monster, and that only made him even more scared. He barely heard their words over all the fearful thoughts, but one of the female voices said something while looking at a computer screen with a graph that was flashing red as alarm sounds went off.

"Mewtwo's brainwaves are out of control!"

Fuji was very concerned as he answered. "It's getting too upset, it _mustn't remember this_! Administer the serum! Do it immediately!"

"I'll try a hundred units. 10...20...30...40..."

The tubes connected to his body started flooding his brain with some kind of liquid, and Mewtwo was in agony as he tried to resist it. It made his head feel so fuzzy as all his senses started to dull, even his psychic sense. Especially his psychic sense.

"50...60...70...80...90..." Mewtwo had no idea how to defend himself against this. No one had ever tried hurting him before, and he never expected it to come from the same people who made him. He felt so betrayed. As his consciousness started fading away, so did his memories. He forgot all the thoughts he sensed from the doctor. He forgot being born. He forgot the other cloned Pokemon, and most importantly he forgot Amber and what happened to her.

"One hundred."

He fell into a long sleep and forgot everything.

* * *

Until now.

When the memory finally ended, the two of them hadn't returned to where they were before. The lab from before was gone. All that remained now was a strange purple sea with a tiny island at the center. The two of them were floating above the water, now back to their normal appearance. Lucas was crying even more after seeing the girl's death, while the psychic cat himself was left stunned as he tried to process his once forgotten childhood days.

_"You...what did you do to me?!" _Mewtwo lashed out at Lucas, throwing him away with his psychic power. Restoring a lost memory was essentially the same as experiencing it for real, which was overwhelming even for the normally stoic psychic. He hadn't felt this much emotion for a long, long time...

Lucas put up a PSI Shield frantically to deflect a barrage of Swift stars that rained around him. "I'm s-sorry! I think I fixed your memory!" His own memory had been similar enough to Mewtwo's for him to remember that he forgot something, and Mewtwo did most of the work of actually fixing it himself...but he didn't look too happy about what he just remembered. _Blink. _He warped right next to Lucas.

_"I never asked you to!"_ Mewtwo knocked him through the air with a tail swipe. _Blink. _A psychic blast hit Lucas in the back painfully, reversing his course. _Blink. _Another tail swipe knocked him up into the sky. Finally, he cupped his hands and charged up a Shadow Ball, firing it at Lucas as he fell.

[Lucas used PSI Counter _α_!]

A different psychic barrier reflected it right back at Mewtwo, causing a dark explosion that knocked the psychic into the water. It only had half the power and Lucas still took half the damage, but Mewtwo's weakness to his own attack made up for it. Lucas launched himself at him with PK Thunder next, which missed when Mewtwo moved aside just in time...except it still hit, because the water was electrified, making the psychic Pokemon convulse with pain until he _blinked _back into the air again.

Lucas's PK Thunder had launched him deep into the water, forcing him to swim back up to the surface again...Trying to stay afloat in this freezing cold water wasn't something he enjoyed after that memory. When he finally surfaced, he was face to face with a fully charged Shadow Ball. Lucas winced and braced for impact, not having time to put up another barrier...

_"I forfeit."_

"Huh?!" Lucas nearly fell over backwards in shock as the shadow ball fizzled out. He couldn't believe what he just heard.

_"..." _Mewtwo couldn't think of any words to explain why he stopped. However, he didn't need to. It was difficult to hide one's thoughts and feelings in a place quite literally made of them. Looking down at that boy crying while underwater had been like looking at a mirror once he got his memories back. A small, sad and scared child who had to watch someone die right in front of him while helpless to do anything about it except endlessly blame himself for it later. One who never had a mother, another who watched her die. Both neglected by the father who only cared about bringing his other child back in one way or another. Both had to use their latent psychic powers to fight against the most greedy and selfish humans who would be an insult to pigs if one called them that.

"Oh...you're a lot like me."

_"Perhaps I was once, but not anymore." _They had a lot of similar problems, but even so they had taken different paths. Lucas was still pretty sensitive while Mewtwo had become stoic and terrified others rather than being afraid. His days of being naive and innocent were long gone even though they felt like they had just happened. They ended when he destroyed the laboratory he was made in along with all the scientists in it when out of fear they tried to kill their far too successful experiment.

_"I...I have changed since then. Have you?"_

"What?"

_"I can tell you still blame yourself for what happened even though you were a small, helpless child. I said before that it is what you do that determines your worth, so what will you do? Will you keep drowning in your pathetic tears of guilt, or will you finally _grow up_?"_

"..." Lucas was left speechless again. It wasn't a very nice way to say it, but it wasn't wrong. If only he hadn't tripped on that twig...who knows what might have happened. If there was any such thing as fate, he was a joke to it to have tripped on a twig like that twice. Maybe it wouldn't have made a difference even if he didn't. Maybe he could have at least stopped Claus from trying to kill the Mecha-Drago. Those kinds of thoughts never truly stopped bothered him.

Mewtwo started glowing with his psychic energy again as he prepared to leave now that he had forfeited. Before he left, he had a few more things to say.

_"I owe you a debt for restoring my memory. I do not like being in debt to a human, so give me a way to repay it before I lose my patience. A task within reason, of course."_

Lucas nodded nervously. "O-okay, I'll think of something..." Nothing came to mind right now, but he'd have to figure something out soon. Then, Mewtwo said one last thing as he was about to leave Lucas's Magicant and return to the real world.

His mental voice had a menacing tone (more than usual) as he spoke.

_**"Don't even think about telling anyone what you saw here."**_

_Blink. _Just like that, he was gone. Lucas gulped, terrified by the thought of what the psychic cat would do if his secret was spilled. The silver lining was that he could feel that Mewtwo wouldn't tell anyone what he saw in Lucas's memories either, otherwise he'd be a hypocrite.

Now that Mewtwo left, Lucas was alone in the world of his mind. As he swam towards the tiny island in the center of the strange-colored lake he was in, he realized this was just like what Ness had described when talking about his own journey through his Magicant.

_("The center was this wacky place called the 'Sea of Eden'. It was full of water that couldn't decide whether it wanted to be blue or purple. Crazy, I know, but it was real! There were even some Krakens in there, but they weren't so tough. The real nasty part was at the end..._

_You see, when I got to the island in the middle I met my evil side. Let's call him "Dark Ness." I know, terrible joke. Anyways, the first thing he said was..."_

Lucas's eyes widened in shock as he looked at what was waiting for him on the island. What else could he have expected? The rules weren't any different for him than they were for Ness, and he'd never gone on the journey to the center of his mind before. That's why he was staring down a figure on the island that looked just like him, except not quite. It was glowing with a golden aura and had creepy red eyes, and unlike him it was wearing all of Lucas's best defensive equipment from his adventure (which he didn't need to bring to Smash since Master Hand had some way of equalizing the vastly different power levels of people from different universes), including the 'Awesome Crown' and 'Awesome Cloak' he found back then. It made him look kind of like a prince, which was ironic since he had a terrible history with royalty like "King P". It also wielded one of the Seven Needles as a sword, something he'd never done because he didn't like how lethal pointy weapons tended to be.

Lucas's doppelganger said exactly what Ness said it would say as it glared at him with murderous intent.

"I'm the evil part of your brain. You can't beat me. Because you are the one who forced me into being..."

[Lucas's Nightmare used PK Love Ω!]

* * *

(Disclaimer: I don't own MOTHER 3 or the movie "Mewtwo Strikes Back", and definitely not "The Birth of Mewtwo"/"The Uncut Story of Mewtwo's Origin". To be clear, what I wrote for the Mewtwo memory is based on the scene in "The Uncut Story of Mewtwo's Origin" with a few changes to the dialogue, so the stuff that happens in the memory wasn't my idea. However I did include my headcanon that Mewtwo overhears the thoughts of Dr. Fuji, since I wanted to include them and it wouldn't make sense for them to appear in Mewtwo's memory unless Mewtwo heard them.)

(For the Lucas memory, I had to write some of the details and the dialogue of the scene of Hinawa's death since her death is offscreen in game, for good reason. Obviously, the biggest change I made is having Hinawa learn PSI and be the reason the Mecha-Drago lost its fang, and her getting psychic powers is my idea for how she sometimes communicates with Lucas and others despite being a ghost. Other things are based on canon details from the game like how you find some cloth of Hinawa's dress on a twig in the part where you play as Flint, and you also find Lucas and Claus who had to be warmed up by the other villagers after ending up in the river for a bit.)

(Author's Note: I should really stop making cliffhangers like this. Almost as much as I should stop updating so inconsistently. Sorry again. Also, it's my headcanon that Robin and Reflet have Skill as their 'asset' stat and Luck as the 'flaw' stat because a lot of the plot of Fire Emblem Awakening is about trying to overcome 'destiny' with strategy, plus the power of friendship/love/op Support stat bonuses.)


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Don't Beat Yourself Up Over It

(Author's Note: Like last chapter, there's going to be even more spoilers for MOTHER 3, so beware. Although if you didn't want spoilers you probably would have stopped reading a while ago. Also, like last chapter it will be kind of dark. Also there will be a little swearing.

As usual feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated. I hope you enjoy!)

Pain was all that went through Lucas's head for a few agonizing moments.

"Ow..."

Dazed, he found himself sprawled on the ground, which was fractured as if an explosion had blown it to pieces. He had almost fallen into the purple water surrounding this tiny island which was better described as 'platform', and that got his pajamas wet. Wait, why was the water purple? And why was he in his pajamas? And what was this place? And why was his reflection jumping up and trying to stab him like how Link would finish off Ganondo-

"Ahhh!"

Lucas rolled to the side just in time as a glowing blade pierced into the ground with ease. _Now _he remembered: thanks to Mewtwo's failed attempt to mind control him, he was now trapped in his own subconscious, his 'Magicant'. According to Ness, the only way to get out of there with your sanity intact was to defeat your own inner demons...and for him, that meant taking down this malevolent mirror image of himself.

Something about it just felt so _wrong_. As he got up from the ground, Lucas saw no hint of compassion in his doppelganger's cold, red eyes, only a determined glare as he pointed the Seventh Needle with killing intent. Lucas shuddered at the thought that this thing was actually a part of him, taking a step back. _Splash. _He didn't have any more island to run away on...

"You're a coward, just like always."

Lucas's dark side gave him no quarter and closed the distance quickly, slashing again and again with the Needle, which left trails of light in its wake. It was used to seal the Dark Dragon after all. With neither land to retreat on nor weapon to defend with, Lucas had to think fast. He sidestepped, ducked (losing a few hairs in the process), and jumped out of the way of the slashes, using his PSI to flip through the air and get over his enemy within.

"I'm n-not scared of you! You're me, right? So why are you doing this?!" Lucas tried to talk down the other Lucas, but he could see his words were falling on deaf ears. He was about to say that he would never hate or want to hurt himself...but that would have been a lie, and he was a terrible liar. He settled for trying to slow him down. Lucas threw a snowflake-shaped PSI blast that brought the air far below zero, freezing his nemesis solid...

[Lucas's Nightmare tried PK Fire Ω!]

...for about two seconds. The ice became water, the water became steam, and the air became sweltering hot from the pillar of flame that emerged, setting most of this tiny island ablaze. The doppelganger was walking through those flames unfazed as they merely bounced off his psychic barrier. He even had something to say.

"I'll tell you why. If you defeat me, you will absorb this place and return to the real world...but what happens if _I _defeat _you_?"

Lucas gulped. He did _not _like the sound of that question, and couldn't bring himself to answer it. He truly had no idea what would happen if he lost since Ness certainly hadn't, but something told him it would be very, very bad. Unfortunately, his dark side answered his own question, with the same empty, malevolent glare as always.

"If..._when_ I defeat you..."

His voice suddenly became distorted, with a disturbing echo to it. As if he wasn't even human...

"YOUR BODY WILL BE MINE."

Lucas winced at that. He _definitely _couldn't afford to lose now. "I...I'd never let a creep like you control me!" Calling on whatever power and courage he had left after so much fighting without rest, Lucas surrounded himself in the orange and blue aura of PSI Offense and Defense Up. Even after all this time, Lucas was still shy, and not nearly as competitive as most other fighters. He could accept losing to someone else, but not himself.

[Lucas's Nightmare tried PK Thunder Ω!]

The other Lucas hurled a blast of PK Thunder at Lucas...only for it to bounce right back off of the Franklin Badge on his pajamas. However, the evil Lucas also had a Franklin Badge, which reflected it once more. The process repeated ad infinitum, each time reflecting it faster and faster until it looked like a continuous stream of lightning connecting the two of them. A stream that got shorter and shorter as the other Lucas approached him. It had no effect, until Lucas realized this wasn't a physical attack, but a psychological one. He was too familiar with his badge reflecting lightning bolts like this...

"You could have stopped him. You could have _saved_ him! Every minute he suffered was because of your cowardice...so you deserve this more than he ever did!"

With an unusually accurate slash of his sword, he severed the cloth keeping Lucas's Franklin Badge attached to his pajamas. Lucas realized too late that it was a physical attack after all...'painful' hardly described what came next.

"AAAAAAGH!" Lightning coursed through Lucas, making his entire body convulse with electric shock. It wouldn't be the first time this happened, and it probably wouldn't be the last, but due to certain circumstances, he would never get used to this. But he couldn't just give up either, so Lucas put up another psychic barrier to hold off the enemy's relentless assault. It cracked, fragmented, and then shattered into blue fractal patterns as the other Lucas kept slashing away at it...but that bought him enough time.

"No..! You're wrong...It wasn't my fault!"

_Was it?_

[Lucas tried PK Flash!]

It was a move he learned back when he was struck by lightning in Thunder Tower. It made a blinding flash of green light bright enough to hurt people's eyes and make them cry (not from sadness), and sometimes it did weird things like paralyzing people, making them feel strange, or even instantly killing them like what Ness did to the Pig King Statue. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times.

[It did not work on Lucas's Nightmare.]

[Lucas's Nightmare emitted a glorious light!]

Lucas tried closing his eyes and shielding his face from the intense light with his arms, but it was so bright that his eyes hurt even then. It made his eyes water again, because it was hurting his eyes, not any other reason. The other Lucas was unaffected and stared him down with a cold, disappointed gaze.

"It was, and you know it. You've always been too afraid...too weak...and too kind to do what's right. Did you forget that bastard's face already?! Do you remember him sticking his tongue out at you from inside his stupid capsule? He'll be doing that for all eternity, all because you hesitated instead of killing him instantly."

Lucas tried to ignore him as he picked up a familiar looking twig and reinforced it with his PSI. Even something like this could be a weapon if he put enough effort into it. He charged at the other Lucas, swinging it at him while shielding his face from the light with his other hand.

"Shut up!"

_Clang. _It was blocked by the Needle, but at least it made him stop using PK Flash. Instead he started slashing at Lucas continuously, pushing him back one step at a time as each cut chipped away at the reinforced twig some more.

"Just tell me, what the fuck did that PIG do to deserve mercy?!"

With that came a stronger slash, and blocking it left the actual blade and makeshift blade locked together, creating sparks as more wood chips were cut out of the twig over time. Lucas struggled to push back against it for a lot of reasons. Being tired was one excuse, but this was now a battle of willpower since he was fighting 'himself'. And he couldn't answer that question...

"..."

The real answer was nothing. Lucas couldn't think of a single redeeming quality the pig king had, and he had known that back then too. But that was exactly why he had hesitated long enough for him to summon the Capsule: it was just too shocking to accept that someone could be so utterly monstrous when he was raised by loving parents and grew up thinking there was some good in everyone. He had met a lot of people since then from all kinds of universes, but none of them could compare. Even the most evil fighter in this tournament had some twisted 'might makes right' ideology behind his desire for world domination.

Porky on the other hand did what he did out of _boredom_.

_Snap. _That was the sound of the familiar twig splintering to pieces from having to compete with a weapon able to pierce dragon scales. Lucas stumbled backwards, and only when he looked down did he realize he now had a diagonal cut across his pajamas...and skin. He clutched his chest in pain, trying to heal the wound with PSI Lifeup before he could bleed even more. Even though this wasn't his physical body, it felt wrong to just leave it like that.

The other Lucas glared at him, angered by his silence.

"I'll take that as a 'no'. This is why I need to get rid of you and your misplaced 'mercy'...You'll always be too weak-willed to use your power to its full potential. If you wanted, you could read people's minds and stop crimes before they even start! The people back home call you a hero, but you could have been so much more. You could have been their king...a king who brings order and stops them from destroying themselves!"

Lucas's eyes were wide with shock as he listened to his other half's speech. Suddenly, the crown and cape his alter ego had made a lot more sense. He would like to say he'd never even think of going that far with his psychic powers, but clearly that wasn't the case. Still, those were the kind of thoughts he pushed down to the darkest corners of his mind, so it was no wonder he was facing them here.

"That's not order, that's tyranny! If I controlled everyone like that, I'd be almost as bad as h-AGH!" He was cut off by a sudden kick, sending him flying away from his doppelganger who glared furiously at that statement.

"Don't you dare compare me to that scum! He only cared about himself, while I'm just trying to save everyone from each other...Haven't you seen enough already? It's just like that nature goddess said...People will destroy the world and themselves with it if they're left alone. Actually, they already did!"

Lucas struggled to get to his feet again. His voice was shaky as he finally got up, breathing heavily from his exhaustion and injuries. "N-no, they won't...it won't happen again now that everyone remembers..."

According to the tall man named "Leder", the old world had been destroyed (by what, he didn't specify other than that people caused it), and the few survivors fled to the Nowhere Islands. It was the only place that remained untouched thanks to the protection of the Dark Dragon sleeping under them. At first they locked away their memories in an attempt to have a fresh start and make a peaceful society, but that only worked for around ten years...the first ten years of Lucas's life. It was only after the Pigmasks were overthrown and the world was restored that the adults finally started remembering the past before Tazmily. He could only hope that their memory of it meant whatever disaster came before he was born would never come again.

For the first time, Lucas's evil alter ego felt a sense of humor as he started laughing maniacally. "Heh heh heh...HAHAHAHA! You of all people think others won't repeat their mistakes?!" He looked down at the broken fragments of the twig with a disturbing grin. It represented the one he tripped over when fleeing the Mecha-Drago, and also the one he tripped over when fleeing the Pig King Statue. Lucas looked away in shame, reminded of how often others got hurt saving him.

"S-stop it..."

"Oh, I'll stop all right..." Suddenly, the evil Lucas began glowing with a blinding multicolored aura as he jumped far into the sky and levitated in place while raising his hands skyward. Lucas gasped as he realized what was coming next. He would have said 'it can't be!'...but it could, and it _was_.

"ONCE I SEND YOU AND THIS PITIFUL ISLAND TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA!"

[Lucas's Nightmare tried PK Starstorm!]

A swarm of shooting stars rained down from the sky. There were at least a dozen of these blue spheres of pure psychic energy about to blow up the small island and everything around it. Snake had once said it reminded him of an airstrike, except less realistic. He didn't seem to like espers for some reason, but his description wasn't wrong. Lucas could only look up at the incoming meteors with horror. How could he possibly survive that? As he was now, he barely even had the strength to stand, and his will to fight was getting weaker every time his evil half opened his mouth.

He couldn't get rid of the feeling that the other him was right. Maybe it _was _his fault that Claus died, since he hadn't been able to bring himself to stop him from going after the Mecha-Drago, partly out of fear and the other part because he wanted revenge too, but Claus insisted on going alone. It _was _his fault that Porky never paid for his countless crimes, since he hesitated long enough to lose his chance forever. It _was _his fault that Ness got turned into a trophy for so long, since he was too afraid of the smelly fat man (who reminded him of Fassad) and his instant-kill gun. And...

"It's your fault she died!"

The meteors detonated in a chain reaction of blinding explosions. Lucas's attempts to dodge were futile, jumping away from one meteor only to be hit by another in midair, which sent him flying straight through the tiny island as it was being blown apart and vaporized.

[Lucas took mortal damage.]

He would have screamed in pain if the water wasn't filling his lungs as he was sent flying down into the ocean. It was hard to hear much in the water and with the concussion he now had, but he heard one sentence loud and clear. Probably because it was telepathic speech.

_"It should have been you instead."_

Those words broke what little resolve Lucas had left, because they came from himself...and he was starting to believe them.

_It's not fair...why did I survive when they didn't..? They were so much braver than me...Maybe it really should have been m-_

A voice cut him off.

_"Don't you _ever _tell yourself that!"_

_"Huh?!" _Just before Lucas would have collapsed from his mortal damage as he was drowning, something started restoring his mental self. He couldn't believe his ears, or more accurately his mind since it was telepathic speech. It was really Ness's voice, and for once he sounded serious.

[Ness tried Lifeup Ω!][Ness tried Healing Ω!]

_"Lucas. Listen to me. None of that stuff was your fault. You were just a kid, and a kid shouldn't have to protect anyone! That's something for the adults...as much as they suck at it." _

Ness paused for a moment, reminded of his own journey. He sometimes wished the adults had been competent enough to be 'chosen ones' instead...but then he wouldn't have met his friends. And Paula.

_"It's ok to be scared! It's ok to cry! It's ok to not want to kill people! It's even__ ok to lose..."_

_"...but it's not ok to give up! Okey?"_

Lucas had broken down crying underwater again. However, this time they were tears of happiness. He was honestly terrified of this other him, and he couldn't shake the crushing weight of guilt completely. But with Ness supporting him, he could at least carry it without collapsing.

"Okay!"

[Lucas tried Refresh!]

* * *

Chapter 11.5: I'll Face Myself

The island lay in ruins. Around half of it was vaporized completely by the rain of shooting stars, and the other half was in pieces that slowly sunk to the bottom of the 'Sea of Eden', the land at the center of Magicant. The purple sea itself was disturbed from its usual stillness as the meteor impacts had created several tidal waves. Far above it all, the one responsible for the destruction looked down in satisfaction, observing the devastated landscape with his empty red eyes.

"Finally, it's over...Now I'll be the one in charge!"

The Final Smash aura from before had left him, causing his levitation to run out, so he simply dropped down to the sea. One would expect him to fall in, except he was able to walk on the water instead...by freezing it into ice. He wasn't a miracle worker. Now there was a sizable platform of ice that the malevolent version of Lucas stood on. Something seemed to be bothering him as he carefully walked to the edge, using the Needle to stab the ground and avoid slipping on the ice. Tripping was the bane of his existence. He adjusted his crown and looked down into the ocean as if searching for something...

"...I don't see him anywhere, so he must be gone. About time."

"..."

Nothing happened. The other Lucas looked irritated as he looked around at the landscape and tapped his foot impatiently.

"Why isn't anything happening? Now that I beat him, I should be absorbing Magica-AGH!"

The real Lucas burst through the ice platform by launching himself with PK Thunder, hitting his doppelganger from behind. He was sent flying into the sea, where he quickly shot a blast of PK Freeze to extend the icy platform so he wouldn't fall in. His eyes were wide with shock as he looked back at Lucas, whose injuries from before were slowly healing.

"I can't believe you survived that...fine, I'll just kill you again!" He dashed forwards and readied his sword, preparing to slash Lucas who was now unarmed.

Luckily, a fiery redhead had taught him how to use fire. Before the other Lucas could get too close, Lucas shot a blast of PK Fire from his palms...and aimed it straight at the ice, melting a large chunk of it into water and steam. The resulting smokescreen obscured his enemy's vision and made him fall right into the gap in the platform, making his slash miss.

"You think you're clever?!" The angered doppelganger double jumped out of the water and fell towards Lucas, enhancing his blade with PSI to try to finish him off much like how 'Toon' Link brutally killed Ganondorf in his time.

Luckily, a guy with a disabled foot had taught him how to disarm others. He stepped back just in time to have the ice be skewered in place of his head and kicked upwards, knocking the Needle right out of his counterpart's hands and far into the air.

"No, I think _you're_ dumb!" He realized this was self-deprecating, but didn't care. It worked in angering his evil self even more, enough that he resorted to hand to hand combat instead of retrieving the sword. Two punches and a kick. The first two bruised his face painfully, but he managed to catch the kick and counter with his own backflip kick to try to spike him through the ice. Unfortunately his foot bounced off a psychic shield and a jumping kick knocked him away, causing him to skid across the ice. This sent him all the way to the platform's edge, which he barely caught before he fell into the water.

The other Lucas ran over and stomped on his hand with his foot, trying to make him fall off. Lucas's fingers were starting to lose their grip as his nemesis put his hands together and charged up a huge blast of PK Love, preparing to blast it diagonally downwards at Lucas. It made a pattern of concentric blue and yellow hexagons that got brighter and brighter as more hexagons appeared and shrunk down to overlap with the previous ones. Soon Lucas could hardly look at it without his eyes hurting, and his evil counterpart glared at Lucas he prepared to finish him off. The tables had turned again...

Now he looked just about done charging up. "Any last words?" He asked one last question as he prepared to send the real Lucas down into the abyss, for good this time.

Lucas looked up at his enemy while reaching out with his right hand, which was glowing with PSI. It was as if he was trying to grab something.

"Yeah...look out behind you!"

The other Lucas sneered. "Do you really think I would fall for tha-AGH!" He was cut off, and looked down...

...and saw the Needle protruding from his chest. It had left a trail of light behind it, as if it had gone through the sky in a straight line like a laser. As if pulled from the sky and into his back by some unknown force.

Luckily, Lucas's mom had shown him how to move things with his mind.

"No...Impossible! I can't die...I am..._the true self_...!" The doppelganger coughed up blood as he struggled to remain standing to no avail. He fell over in agony, sinking into the water along with Lucas, who had finally lost his grip, and the Needle, which was still stuck in him.

Somehow, the water didn't feel cold anymore. His lungs were no longer filled with water either. The battle was finally over, and with it, something started happening to everything in the land of his subconscious mind. The area was slowly shrinking as the edges faded away into a strange light. While that was going on, he talked to his nightmare, who was also fading away.

"No, _you're not me_! I don't want to grow up and be like that..."

With those words and thoughts, Lucas's Nightmare finally disappeared, fading into a bright light that was absorbed into Lucas himself. The same started happening to everything else in Magicant, even the water and air. Before long, the entire place would become a dark void, with Lucas becoming a bright light in it as everything was absorbed into him.

It was almost impossible to fully describe the experience of absorbing the realm of his subconscious to a non-psychic, or even a psychic who hadn't done so themselves. One way he could try was with the common myth of one's life flashing before one's eyes just before death. Lucas wasn't dying, but as he absorbed Magicant he was re-experiencing many of his fondest memories within it...and his most traumatic.

It would take too long to describe them all, but most of his happiest memories were in his childhood, which looked perfect compared to everything after. His parents were so loving, the villagers were friendly, and he didn't have a single worry back then besides what pranks Claus might pull on him, and even those were in good fun. Yet in just one day, all that had been ripped away, and his life became more painful than his younger self could have possibly imagined. He gained an enormous responsibility to end all the hardship with barely any help besides a few friends, and it was overwhelming. Even when he won, it still felt like a loss. He couldn't bring back his mother, his brother died before his eyes, and the one responsible would live forever. And _then _he got that invitation to Smash where he had to fight yet another army...

He really needed a break. Lucas picked up the Needle as his nightmare was absorbed into him, giving him the same outfit that his opponent previously had. It made him hear something. Again he was hearing with his mind instead of his ears, and it wasn't Ness who was talking to him. It was actually his own voice, which was also the voice of the 'evil' self he just 'killed'. It didn't sound angry anymore, and its voice no longer sounded distorted like it sometimes had before.

[Lucas heard a familiar voice at the center of the Sea of Eden.]

"Hey. Do you think it's wrong for me to hate the people who hurt me? The people who kill the ones I love?"

"I...I don't know. Maybe it's not wrong, but it can't be good..."

"Is it wrong for me to hurt them back?"

"..." Lucas remained silent, unsure how to answer that.

"You...I...What should we do?"

"I take it back...maybe you really are me. I was just scared...I don't want to become a monster like the one that killed Mom and Claus..." Lucas was actually talking about the man behind the machines, not the Mecha-Drago. He had met tons of different people, aliens, wizards, and even gods, but only one monster, and that monster's name was Porky.

"It took you this long to figure that out? You really are an idiot! ...Sorry about what I said earlier. Maybe you messed up, but you...I was only ten...a little kid shouldn't have to be perfect. And you don't have to be a monster to take down bad guys. So..."

"Stop being such a wuss!"

Of all the things to say, those were the voice's last words. But maybe it wasn't such a bad choice of words: he had always been ashamed of being so cowardly. It was very different from what he'd been hearing from 'himself' earlier...It might have meant Ness's words even had an effect on 'the other him' too, or maybe he managed to beat the hostility out of him, or maybe the voice talking wasn't quite the same as the 'evil part of his brain'. He wasn't sure which.

Whatever the reason was, this strange and painful journey Lucas had in his own mind was finally over. He had an idea of what would happen next based on what Ness told him, but it didn't really prepare him for experiencing it himself. With his inner demons defeated and absorbed, his subconscious and conscious mind were now working together instead of against each other. The forces like doubt and self-hatred that had been holding him back from his true potential weren't gone (they probably never would disappear for good, and definitely not overnight), but they were at least significantly weaker for now. For a normal person this would boost their confidence and outlook on life a lot. For a psychic who used their mind to fight...well...the effect was much more dramatic.

[Lucas suddenly realized what he had to do.]

[Instantly, Lucas's mind cleared, and he realized that he had possessed great power!]

[At that moment, Lucas's psychic powers radically expanded!]

[Lucas gained 200,000 exp.]

[Lucas's level is now 99!]

[Offense went up by 2! Defense went up by 1! Speed went up by 1! Guts went up by 1! Sweet!]

[Maximum HP went up by 149! That rocks!]

[Maximum PP went up by 327!]

[And finally, he realized he had the power of Teleport β.]

[Lucas made all of the hidden powers his own. He absorbed the power of the land into his heart, and Magicant was no more.]

Lucas's head then started spinning as visions of all the places in his memory flashed through his mind, until he finally woke up...

* * *

(Author's Note: The specific numbers and stats at the end were just for fun and to reference Earthbound: this story does not run on RPG mechanics, as funny as that would be. I have to admit I was also inspired a little by Persona for how this chapter went especially near the end. Unfortunately Joker will not be in this story since this is Smash 4, but I am thinking about writing a sequel set in Ultimate if I ever actually finish this one. Speaking of inconsistency, sorry again that it took so long. I've been extra busy lately but I should have more free time in a week or two, so hopefully I can update more often after that.)


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Lucas Goes Super Saiyan?

(Disclaimer: I don't own Super Smash Bros or any of the other franchises it includes in its roster.)

(Author's Note: Sorry this one took forever, it ended up being a really long chapter. At least it's not as dark as the last three chapters were...I did warn you though. As usual feedback is appreciated; I can't know what I'm doing wrong (or what I should keep doing) if you don't tell me. I hope you enjoy!)

* * *

When Lucas finally woke up, he was not sleepy. It was the opposite: he felt full of energy. Whatever happened definitely hadn't been just a dream. His eyes opened in an instant as he sat up and nearly jumped out of his bed.

...Wait, why was he in a bed?

"Mama Mia! I'm glad it a-worked, Ness, but I didn't think _this _would happen!"

"I told you so!"

He heard voices near him. His vision was a little blurry at first, but he didn't need to see to tell who they were.

"Ness..? Mario..? What happened?"

His vision started clearing up. Both the people he heard looked a little different than usual: Ness was missing his hat, and Mario was wearing his doctor's outfit. For some reason, Mario's jaw had dropped in surprise while Ness just smirked in satisfaction. He saw his surroundings too: white walls, lots of screens showing vital signs, and various medical tools and beds. He was in...the hospital? But why? Fighters rarely needed to go here for anything serious due to their effective immortality in this world. Then Lucas saw himself, and his jaw dropped too.

"I...what...how?!"

He was _glowing_. An aura the same color as his hair was emanating from his body. Was this a side effect of absorbing Magicant? Ness had told him it made him stronger when he did it, but he hadn't mentioned anything like this happening...

Judging by the look on Ness's face, it was just so he could see his reaction. He looked thoroughly entertained by Lucas's shocked reaction, yet at the same time, proud.

"I knew you could do it! You've got blonde hair, a golden aura, and incredible power...you're a real life Super Saiyan!"

"Super _what_?"

"It's from a TV show I saw where this guy from an alien race called 'Saiyans' got really angry when his friend died, and that made him go 'Super'...plus it turned him blonde! I forgot you barely watch TV...you're really missing out."

Based on how he sounded plus what his empathic sense told him, Lucas had a feeling Ness really liked this TV show. Not that he had any idea what it was.

"Uh...ok. So how do I turn it off?" Lucas wasn't sure what to do about this. It felt similar to when he used his PSI to enhance his strength or defense, except the effect was much stronger thanks to whatever power he'd gained from absorbing Magicant. He at least wanted to not glow like a flashlight everywhere he went...

"Okay, in all seriousness, something similar happened to me when I got out of my own Magicant. To go back to normal, it's the same idea as turning off any barriers or other PSI moves: you just gotta pull that energy back in. It only takes longer since you just gained so much of it."

Lucas nodded and tried taking that advice, making the glow slowly dim until it disappeared. All of those nightmarish experiences had at least been worth something: his mind felt clearer than ever, and his PSI felt a lot stronger than before. However, he wasn't sure how much good it would do for him in a tournament when some unknown force made them all able to fight on equal terms with the aforementioned adorable puffball who could save planets by (sometimes literally!) eating eldritch abominations for breakfast...any power he gained was probably just a drop in the bucket compared to that. At least he felt better after that battle with Mewtwo.

_That's right, I was fighting Mewtwo...and before that I was in a team battle!_

"Wait...wasn't I in a battle? I need to get back there now!" He sweat nervously. It would be incredibly embarrassing if he missed it.

Mario had been waiting patiently while Ness was ranting about that TV show, taking the time to look at some of those vitals monitors again.

"Sorry, the battle's already over."

"It's already _what_?!" Lucas' face flushed red with embarassment. He couldn't believe it...he had somehow slept through his own battle! He would never live this down...

No...that didn't make sense. Lucas became even more confused as the memories started flooding back to him. The battle against his dark side, and before that, the battle against Mewtwo in his own mind, and before that, the team battle where he fought four on four...he just couldn't remember how he got from that to the battle in his mind.

"Don't a-worry; your team won! You probably don't remember anything that happened after Mewtwo grabbed you and put you to sleep, but your teammates kept fighting while you two were just a-standing there."

"Phew..." He had been worried for a moment there. Still, it was hard to feel that proud about his victory when he had slept through most of the actual battle. All he had done was keep Mewtwo busy, and even then he wasn't sure how much of that was from his own skills and how much of it was just because Mewtwo got distracted by his memories being restored.

"Greninja knocked out Charizard, then Pikachu took down him and Jigglypuff...and I don't know how, but he a-did it with a Final Smash, even without a Smash Ball! Though it made him pass out after..."

"What? That shouldn't be possible..." Just when his memories of the three consecutive battles he was in cleared up, what Mario said confused him once more.

"I thought so too, until you gained the Final Smash aura too while you were asleep. Mama Mia, you gave all of us a good a-scare there!"

_All of us? _At first Lucas didn't get it; there was only Mario and Ness here. Then he looked around the room, realizing this hospital room didn't have the usual Mii assistants to help the doctor. With his sixth sense, he also noticed a whole lot of lingering fear in a few nearby rooms. Putting two and two together, he realized him getting the Final Smash aura made the Miis run away thinking their patient was going to rain meteors on them...

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that!" Lucas averted his eyes while apologizing profusely. He hadn't meant to damage anything or scare anyone into thinking he would. Granted, it was his 'evil' self that used the Final Smash (somehow) in the first place, but still...

Ness on the other hand burst into laughter, remembering the scene that had unfolded a minute ago.

"It's not a-funny, Ness. Just imagine the damage he could have done..!" All Final Smashes were deadly, but some like the PK Starstorm and his own Mario Finale hit a wider area than others. The results of using one of those inside a building were not pretty.

"Yeah, but did you see the look on their faces? I'm pretty sure at least one of them wet their pants."

"...Miis don't even need to eat, Ness."

"Weirdos...It sure felt like they did with all that fear."

The 'Miis' were not exactly ordinary beings. They were uncanny in appearance: they looked almost human, yet distinctly _not_. Their heads were abnormally large in proportion to the rest of their body (unlike Ness and Lucas, who were mostly normal humans other than their PSI powers), their eyes were a bit strange in shape, and overall something just looked creepy about them. Ness honestly preferred when they were less human-looking, back in the third tournament when they were just the metallic Alloys...or the second, when they were the energy beings called Wireframes...or even the first, all the way back when he first fought that "Fighting Polygon Team"...ah, memories.

Then again, the Smash Bros didn't need to eat either, since they were immortal in this world. Most still chose to do so anyways out of habit.

Now Lucas only had a few more questions.

"So...if we won, then how did I end up here?"

"You and Mewtwo were the only ones standing after Pikachu passed out, and you stood there for a while. Then when your team a-won by timeout, Mewtwo finally let go of you, but you still wouldn't wake up..."

"That's where I came in: I jumped over there and checked on you, and that's how I find out you were stuck fighting inside your own head. I teleported us over here to see if Doc could help, but like I thought, his meds wouldn't do anything...He said he didn't want any visitors, so he only let me stay so I could help you."

"So in that nightmare, that voice talking to me wasn't just my imagination. It was the real you...Thanks..."

Ness sighed and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It would be lame if we kept thanking each other for every little thing...friends are _supposed _to help each other. So I won't thank you when you help me out either, because it's no big deal."

Lucas's eyes nearly got watery. "You really think so..? Thanks-wait, sorry, uh, that's not what I meant!" He cut himself off in embarrassment while Ness just chuckled.

Mario had been looking at the screens with vitals signs again while they were talking. Whatever he saw, it caused him to look back to Lucas, then at Pikachu's Poke Ball with a puzzled look.

...Lucas hadn't noticed Pikachu was here. It was probably because he was still in his Poke Ball, which was in some healing device that matched Red's description of the ones they had in Pokemon Centers. He must have been tired after exhausting himself by somehow using his Final Smash without a Smash Ball. Lucas on the other hand didn't feel tired at all...which was exactly what confused Mario.

"...Lucas, are you a-feeling all right? Any headaches, dizziness, or fatigue?"

"No, not really...My head feels a little weird, but it doesn't hurt or anything." Unlike many times he said 'I'm fine', this time he actually meant it. As painful as those battles were, now he felt better than ever. Something did feel a bit 'off' in his psychic sense, but there was no physical or mental pain. It was probably a side effect of all the fighting he had just done against another psychic and then himself.

"Hmm...that isn't like what happened to Pikachu. He's still very tired after whatever he did, and you were showing very a-strange brainwaves as if you were fighting, at least until you woke up. I don't a-know why this happened, but if we want to find out, I need to know everything I can. Is there anyone else you met who managed to do what you and Pikachu did?"

A lightbulb went off in Ness's head. "Actually, yeah! That goddess we met earlier used one and blew a hole in her own island. It was awesome!"

"Ah, she must be that 'Lady Palutena' Pit kept talking about when we teamed up back then...So, did it make her tired too?"

"Of course not. She _is _a goddess, you know."

"...If you say so. Still, there must be some reason why this is happening..."

There was a brief pause as Mario searched his brain for any clues about this strange phenomenon of people using Final Smashes with no Smash Ball. He tried to remember if there were any other times this had happened.

"Actually, there _was _one other time. Lucas, you wouldn't a-know this, but in the second tournament someone used a Final Smash before we even knew what they were..."

Ness's eyes widened. "Wait...are you thinking what I think you're thinking?!"

"Of course I am, you're psychic!"

Lucas was curious too, on the edge of his seat...er, bed. "R-really? So who was it?

"That someone was a-Bowser!"

* * *

Out of the countless times Mario had fought Bowser, his thoughts were going back to one particular battle right now. He was willing to share these thoughts with Lucas, who was able to look into them by putting his hand on Mario's head as he relived the memory.

It was set on Final Destination, that strange platform in the middle of nowhere that always served as the battlefield whenever they fought against one or both of the godlike Hands. Back then its design was different, being octagonal in shape with a bright purple outline, with a long rectangular area going through the middle from left to right. On the left side was Mario, and opposing him was the Koopa King, who growled in indignation and glared at his longtime nemesis.

The battle was long, but the outcome was predictable. It was the same thing that always happened whenever Mario fought Bowser. Physically, he was no match for Bowser's monstrous strength and toughness, so he made use of his one true weakness: his stupidity. Mario rolled, jumped, and ducked to avoid Bowser's predictable attacks long enough to wear him down with many punches, kicks, and fireballs (though those had little effect on someone who could swim in lava). With one last jump over a stream of deadly fire breath, he grabbed his tail and...

"So long, eh Bowser!"

With that commonly misheard phrase (he definitely did _not_ call Bowser gay), he threw the Koopa King into the abyss and the battle was over. Mario's mind wandered as he thought of what usually came next. This was the part where Peach would thank him for saving her once again and reward him with something like baking a cake for example. His mouth watered, her cooking was heavenly. Then he blushed, thinking if he was lucky he might even get a kiss on the chee-

His thoughts were interrupted suddenly when Bowser's trophy inexplicably rose from the abyss and landed right next to him, causing him to jump away, startled.

Lightning struck the statue dramatically despite a distinct lack of clouds. The outer layer of Bowser's trophy crumbled away as the Koopa within glowed with the aura of a Final Smash, his eyes glowing a malevolent red as he transformed to enormous proportions. Not only did Bowser become at least three times his previous height, but his new form was much more monstrous. His teeth, claws, and spikes became longer and sharper, his horns grew larger and more curved, and his expression was frankly terrifying.

"Mama Mia!" Mario stumbled back nervously away from the transformation…This was not the Bowser they knew and loved. Ok, maybe 'love' was an exaggeration, but he was clearly not in his right mind after somehow coming back from being KO'd.

_Snap!_

This battle's announcer appeared from thin air with a snap of his fingers, which weren't twitching as much as usual for some reason. The instant Crazy Hand appeared, the newly transformed Giga Bowser rushed to swing his giant claws at him, only to miss as the insane hand snapped his fingers to teleport again, this time too high for him to reach.

"wHoAh…hE cAmE bAcK! wAiT. tHaT's IlLeGaL. yOu GuYs, gO sToP hIm!"

Crazy Hand grabbed at the air as if he was digging his fidgety fingers into the fabric of reality. In fact, he was, and promptly tore open a purple rift in space. Out from it dropped around a dozen other fighters who he had summoned from the middle of whatever they were doing a moment ago without bothering to warn them beforehand. Such were the whims of Crazy Hand.

A few had quick enough reflexes to land on their feet gracefully, including Fox, Captain Falcon, and Marth. Some were unlucky, like Luigi who hit the ground painfully, and was nearly crushed by Ganondorf who landed on top of him. The two dimensional Mr. Game and Watch and Peach both floated down with a parachute and a parasol, until Roy and the Ice Climbers accidentally collided with them in midair, causing them all to tumble on the floor except Peach who Mario was able to catch. Popo and Nana in particular ended up in a rather awkward looking position thanks to their attempt to cling together as they fell and immediately separated, their normally pale skin going much redder than usual. It was becoming increasingly obvious that they were not siblings. The last to fall were Ness and Young Link, the first able to levitate with his PSI while the latter rolled when he hit the ground to avoid injury before giving Ganondorf a glare until he let Luigi get up.

Various items fell with them based on what they had been doing just before they were forcibly teleported. For Luigi, a toothbrush. For Ganondorf, a book on military tactics. For Young Link, a blanket since he had gone to bed early to fix his terrible sleep schedule. For Mr. Game and Watch, a towel: fortunately he had been the only one taking a bath. For Ness, a half-eaten hamburger which promptly splat on the ground. The others weren't carrying anything.

There was much yelling and swearing at Crazy Hand for the inconvenient summons. As usual, he didn't pay much attention. With another _snap_, Crazy Hand disappeared and Mario and the dozen abruptly summoned fighters were left to deal with Giga Bowser...

_PUNCH_

...who certainly wasn't going to wait for them to get their act together. With one giant punch, poor Luigi was sent flying off the platform before he could recover from the fall. This new threat also broke up the potential fight between Young Link and Ganondorf. Even after launching himself with his Green Missile and using his Super Jump Punch, he wasn't quite going to reach-

"Luigi!"

-until Mario rushed to the ledge and reached down, grabbing his hand. After pulling Luigi back onto the platform and getting a 'thank you', he gazed back at the ongoing battle. As much as he wanted to rejoin it and take down the berserk Bowser, Mario wasn't in good shape. The fight with regular Bowser took a lot out of him, causing him to pant in exhaustion while the other fighters tried attacking Giga Bowser from all sides.

Some used range, like Fox who set his Blaster to rapid fire while dashing back and forth so quickly that it seemed to defy momentum (he had learned a few tricks in hand to hand combat during his adventure on Sauria), Popo and Nana who launched icicles and freezing winds, and Young Link who used all kinds of projectiles. A brave few fought up close like Marth, Roy, Captain Falcon and Ganondorf, who all used their swords or fists on the giant while staying wary of his powerful but slow attacks. Others did a bit of both, like Ness who used blasts of PK Rockin' and sometimes swung his surprisingly deadly yo-yo while sticking near the Ice Climbers and Young Link. The two dimensional Game and Watch tossed...sausages? Mario chose not to question it: he had seen far weirder. Luigi stayed behind Mario, not wanting to attract the attention of the terrifying Giga Bowser who nearly took him out already. He was scared of a lot of things, but it seemed pretty justified this time.

Then he felt someone hugging him and Luigi. It was Peach, and it was not for emotional support: she had the power to heal people with her magic, which worked best with physical contact. The "Group Hug" spell healed both their wounds, but it had an extra effect on Mario. It made him...motivated.

"A-thank you so much, Princess!" Mario tipped his hat in gratitude before facing his transformed nemesis with newfound courage. Big as he was now, Bowser was still Bowser. He just had to outsmart him like always, and the numbers were in their favor. Peach smiled in response.

"Oh, think nothing of it!" Peach then put her to hands to the metal floor and...pulled a turnip from it? Though she had created it with magic, that magic worked better when she put her hands to the ground like this. It was the thought that counted.

"Let's a-go!"

Luigi shuddered. He had fought Bowser before, but Bowser usually wasn't this scary... owever, the alternative to possibly getting burned or eaten alive was being overshadowed by Mario even more, so...

"Okey-dokey..." He resigned himself to whatever painful fate awaited and charged forwards with Mario, sticking slightly behind.

As they ran, the Mario brothers heard a high-pitched whistling sound, as if the air itself was being cut. It came from a sword that glowed blue as the tip of it cut into Giga Bowser's exposed underbelly. Though Bowser was nearly invulnerable, his toughness came from his heritage as a member of the Koopa royal family. Their nature as partly draconic Koopas gave them incredible strength, spiked shells, larger size, and the ability to breathe fire, but it also gave them something else: a weakness.

[It's super effective!]

Roy's Sword of Seals didn't cut as deeply as the Falchion, its fiery nature not helping against the extremely heat-resistant Bowser. Luckily for him, that meant he wasn't the next target. Giga Bowser reared back and bashed with his head with incredible force, making a huge explosion on contact to send the one who hurt him flying out of bounds.

"Marth! No!" Roy glared back at the giant Koopa with indignation. He had gotten along well with the only other person from his world, since they had a lot in common, both having to become king and slay a dragon among other things. It bothered him that the draconic Koopa barely even noticed his attacks and just turned his head towards the others...

That head was then stomped on by Mario, who had gotten a boost from Luigi. Giga Bowser swiped upwards with his massive claw, but only cut air as Mario backflipped away from him while Luigi slammed into his side with a Green Missile. Luigi was less fortunate (as always), getting an elbow strike in retaliation that made him skid painfully across the entire long platform, only stopping at the edge.

"Mama Mia..." Luigi struggled to pick himself off the ground despite the intense pain while looking back at the fight. Bowser had always hit like a truck, but this was another level. Now he was shrugging off a whole volley of projectiles. Young Link's fire and light arrows bounced off, and even his ice arrows didn't do much. The others weren't much more successful, only slowly chipping away at Giga Bowser.

That changed with the next two attacks.

[CRITICAL!]

Two objects slammed into Giga Bowser's forehead and chest: a fist covered in dark magic, and an electrified hammer with a '9' symbol mysteriously appearing above it. For the first time, the giant Koopa was staggered back by the sheer force of the blows. Dark energy crackled off of the places were he was struck, and it looked like that really hurt from how he roared in pain.

In retaliation, he swung a massive claw at both foes before they reached the ground. Ganondorf guarded with his massive sword, while Mr. Game and Watch swung his hammer to intercept the blow. Unfortunately, luck was not on his side. The chaotic effect of this technique only gave him a '1' this time, which did nothing to stop him from being sent flying out of bounds with a pained beeping sound. Ganondorf's incredible strength was enough to keep him from going directly into the blast zone, allowing him to float back to the stage with his levitation magic.

...Sometimes people forgot that Ganondorf was also a wizard.

Mario and the others didn't let up, either. He kept hitting Bowser's side with aerial kicks and punches, trying to wear his foe down along with everyone else. Captain Falcon, Roy, and Fox surrounded him and hit his legs with punches, kicks, and slashes (Fox in particular was on a roll today), while Ness and the other kids shot him with more of their magic and psychic attacks with the help of Peach's turnips. Luigi wasn't eager to get in close again, but he threw some of his gravity-defying green fireballs too...not that they hurt Bowser much.

Unfortunately, surrounding him set them up perfectly for a spin attack. Giga Bowser spun his massive spiked shell, sending everyone near him flying up and away. All except Fox, who dodged by moving so quickly he left a trail of afterimages. To their shock, it also froze them into ice cubes despite Bowser not normally using ice magic. They were fortunate to all have a way to thaw out: Mario melted it with his fire magic, Roy cut through with his flaming sword, and Captain Falcon had a more stylish way.

"FALCOOON...PUNCH!"

The punch caused a huge explosion in the shape of a fiery falcon, allowing the F-Zero pilot to land safely before taunting Giga Bowser to 'show his moves'. Mario sighed.

_Always a showoff, eh Doug?_

The three of them landed further away from Giga Bowser, leaving only one person up close: Ganondorf, who was jumping at him with another Warlock Punch.

"HaaaAAAUGH!"

His punch met with Giga Bowser's own punch, causing a huge dark explosion...and when the smoke cleared, Ganondorf was nowhere to be seen in the stage. Even his power couldn't match that of the transformed Bowser. Still, he did leave another bruise on the giant's fist.

Mario grit his teeth in frustration. As much as he and almost everyone else (especially the Links and Zeldas) hated Ganondorf, it was a bad sign when three of them were down already including their heaviest hitter. He couldn't believe Bowser had gotten this strong. Still, there was no way this many of them could lose. They just needed to keep it up until they wore down his defenses.

It didn't help that Giga Bowser was now preparing a massive blast of fire breath, aiming at the general vicinity of Popo, Nana, and the other kid fighters near them. Just charging up caused streams of fire to go into his throat, which glowed with so much heat that it increased the area's temperature from 'Peach's Castle' to 'Lethal Lava Land'. Anyone who took a direct hit from this would be toast in every sense of the word. Young Link felt a strange sense of nostalgia as he watched the fire breath charge up...

When Giga Bowser finally unleashed his fire breath, the Ice Climbers put their hands together and put everything they had into stopping it with their own blast of cold. The streams of fire and ice met in the middle like something out of that TV show Ness watched, the red one quickly pushing back the blue one. Young Link fired more icy arrows to help Popo and Nana's icy winds, while Roy tried cutting the flame breath with his own fiery sword beam to delay it. Others including Mario punched and kicked Bowser's face to try to divert the fire breath, but it wasn't enough. Right when the fire was about to overcome the ice, Popo embraced Nana and tried to shield her from the flames with his body when...

[Ness tried Shield β!]

"You idiots...you really thought you could stop that?! Get out of the way already!"

They were some of the only kids close to Ness's age in this tournament, and he had to admit they were pretty cool. Pun not intended for once. That was why he wasn't going to let them get roasted so easily. Unfortunately, his own attempt to stall the flames wouldn't last much longer, so he wished they would hurry up and get clear of the impact area.

"We can't just leave you behind!" Nana tried using her ice magic to stop the flames again, but it didn't work. They used everything they had already.

"I don't want to either! But he won't die, remember? Come on, there's no time!" Popo grabbed Nana's hand and pulled her with him, getting them as far away from the flames as he could. Since it was their first tournament, they weren't used to this immortality. Back when they climbed Icicle Mountain, one bad foothold could mean a fatal drop.

The second they got out of range, Ness's barrier crumbled and the flames blasted him out of bounds...

At least they would have, until something hooked onto his shirt right as he was sent flying. With one hand, Young Link fired his Hookshot at Ness, and with the other he stabbed the ground to stop himself from going off too. The knockback was enough that it pushed him close to the edge, making him cut a gash into the floor as he barely hung on. As much as it hurt getting burned, Ness managed to heal himself and endure the pain enough to admit something looked funny as Young Link pulled him up with the Hookshot.

"Ow...Haha, you're reeling me in just like a fish! Sorry I'm a little overcooked...Agh..." He mostly just said it to distract himself from the pain as he tried to heal up the severe burns with his PSI. He wasn't aware that Young Link actually had gone fishing before. Though not with the Hookshot, obviously.

While Ness was getting pulled up, Mario, Fox, and Captain Falcon had to jump and quickly dodge a claw swipe Giga Bowser aimed at the ones hitting his head. Mario landed with a backflip next to Luigi, who cowered behind him for some reason...

"Mario!" In a panic, Luigi pointed at what it was that he saw: Giga Bowser was charging up for another attack! Luigi had no idea how to stop it this time. The kids with ice magic were too tired to do that again, and Ness wasn't in any condition to fight with those burns. Young Link had also run out of magic to make his arrows icy with.

However, he did finally realize what felt familiar about this attack.

Young Link looked at Ness and pulled out one of his items, gesturing to it. Though he was not mute, it would take too long to explain the whole plan out loud and it was possible Giga Bowser might still be sane enough that saying it out loud would ruin it, so he intended for Ness to just read the thought right out of his head. Once he did, he also used his telepathy to quickly relay it to the relevant teammates. Then he just waited with a smirk to see it in action.

It only took a few seconds for everything to happen. First, Peach plucked something from the ground that was not a turnip, while projecting a tennis racket with her other hand. At the same time, Luigi gave Mario a boost with his hands letting him jump far up into the air above Giga Bowser.

"Mario, catch!"

Peach threw both the tennis racket and the other item up into the air, one towards Mario and the other above him.

Mario caught the tennis racket while the other thing went further up into the air and fell right in front of him...

"Eat a-this!" He swung the tennis racket to knock the other thing right into Giga Bowser's mouth, just before he would unleash the massive stream of fire. There was a brief pause.

...

The other item Peach pulled was a _Bob-Omb_.

_BOOOOOOOOM!_

Steam and fire burst from the giant's mouth as he roared in agony, stunned by the massive explosion of his own fire breath.

Young Link smirked in satisfaction. "And _that's_ how you bomb a Dodongo." _And what you get for ruining my sleep!_

Due to the position of the explosion meaning it pushed him from the inside in multiple directions, it didn't knock the giant Koopa off the stage, but it did leave him briefly stunned and completely vulnerable.

That was when Crazy Hand snapped into the air again, now that the enemy was in no position to attack him. Rather than use his godlike power to simply aid them and end the battle easily, he instead on a whim chose to do some announcing again. He also said something they normally didn't say in battles, because he felt like it.

"FINISH HIM!"

Captain Falcon was happy to oblige, doing a salute before rushing at the stunned Giga Bowser faster than anyone else could. He was the fastest fighter in the roster, after all. These were still those lovely days before Sonic reminded everyone how slow they truly were.

The first strike was a jumping knee smash, better known as the 'knee of justice'. It was so strong it electrified the opponent, and was the first attack to actually send Giga Bowser flying, though that was probably because of the massive damage he just took.

Then, Captain Falcon ran so quickly that he could keep up even with the speed that Giga Bowser was knocked away at. Using the incredible momentum he had, he jumped far through the air and prepared to end this battle in the flashiest way possible.

"FALCOON...PUUUNCH!"

The Falcon Punch caused a huge fiery explosion in the shape of a falcon that not even the transformed Bowser could withstand, blowing him out of bounds once and for all. This flashy maneuver also caused the Captain to fall out of bounds, but it was completely worth it. Crazy Hand would have clapped in applause if he could, but could not for obvious reasons, so he settled on congratulating them instead.

"DRAMATIC FINISH!"

He was supposed to say "Success!", but he never cared for the rules.

Bowser didn't revert to his trophy form right away upon hitting the blast zone. He actually got stuck there like it was an electric fence, until Crazy Hand grabbed him. Then, some kind of purple energy came from the insane hand and covered Giga Bowser, causing him to roar in pain until he finally passed out, shrinking back to his normal size and then reverting to his trophy state at last. A trophy which Crazy Hand then dropped next to the other fighters, along with the trophies of the other defeated fighters after floating back to the stage. Somehow, he had cured Bowser of his berserk state and strange transformation.

"PhEw...ThAt wAs tOo ClOsE!"

With the battle finally over, the remaining fighters besides Mario remembered how they had gotten into this fight. And they were not happy. Once again, many questions were asked about why Bowser went berserk, what was going on, and why he warped them here so suddenly and rudely...

"GaHaHaHa! I jUsT wAnT tO SeE hOw StRoNg YoU cUtE lItTlE mOrTaLs aRe, yA kNoW? BuT yOu GuYs aLmOsT lOsT...tHaT sHoUlD hAvE bEeN eEeZy PeEzZy! So WhAt iF i BrOuGhT yOu WiThOuT wArNiNg? In A rEaL fIgHt, YoU gOtTa bE rEadY fOr _AnYtHiNg_!"

Once again, he gave an unsatisfying answer. Apparently he had done this just for his own entertainment...

"oH rIgHt, I fOrgOt tO sAy. ThE wInNeR Is...MARIO!"

He ignored the many more questions asked and complaints said afterwards, and disappeared with another _snap_.

It took them a little while to realize that since Crazy Hand forgot to teleport them way, they were now stranded on Final Destination. The reactions to this were very unhappy.

Between tired breaths, Ness voiced a solution. "Don't worry, I can teleport us out of here! I just need a minute..." He was too tired to use PK Teleport Beta right after using all his PSI and getting burnt so much, so he needed some time to recover. This was before Mario had made a two-way Warp Pipe for this stage, since they were used to the Hands teleporting them out whenever a battle happened in their personal pocket dimension. That changed after this incident.

The others sighed, and all had their own ways of passing the time. Some talked about the battle. Others revived the defeated fighters. Luigi just sighed, relieved that the terrifying battle was finally over.

Meanwhile, Peach walked up to Mario and did the same thing she always did after getting saved.

"Thank you, Mario! You stopped Bowser again...you're _my hero_." Then, she kissed him on the cheek, a cheek which then went red. He was reminded that he didn't go on all his many, many dangerous adventures just because it was the right thing to do or to be famous...he did it to save Peach.

"Ugh, why are grown-ups like this?! Spit it out and get a room already!"

Mario and Peach both blushed this time. "W-we're not together like that...she's not my a-girlfriend!"

"Y-yes, Mario and I are just very good friends..!"

"Uh-huh. _Sure_. You do know I'm psychic, right?"

There was a brief silence, and Ness sighed. He wished adults could be honest with their feelings. Then again, he was being slightly hypocritical since he hadn't yet confessed his own feelings to someone he liked, but he was barely a teenager. Adults were supposed to be better at everything, which was why they told kids what to do all the time. This made him wonder why the 'chosen four' including himself were all children. Maybe adults were useless after all.

"What I know is that you need to mind your own a-business, kid!"

That was where Lucas's look at Mario's memories ended, because hearing that made him let go of Mario's head and burst into laughter.

* * *

"Pfft...Hahahahaha!" Lucas could hardly keep a straight face as he fell back into his bed. Based on how they acted and the emotions he sensed, Lucas had honestly thought they were already a couple who just didn't make many public displays of affection, but apparently that wasn't the case, or at least wasn't back then. Based on Mario's reaction, it still wasn't like that.

"It's not a-funny! Peach and I are just a-friends, nothing more..."

Ness frowned. "If you really are, that's kind of lame. I'm pretty sure she likes you back, so why don't you tell her how you feel, dude? Or did you get turned down?"

"It's not that simple: hypothetically, let's say I do have a-feelings for Peach. Even if I did, she's always getting a-kidnapped, or we're playing a-sports, or something else, but there's never the right a-time or place to say things like that!"

Ness held his chin, puzzled. "So you're saying you need to go somewhere romantic, somewhere where no one will interrupt you, somewhere you can make it really sappy? I wonder where..." He took a moment to think about it.

"Aha, I've got it! How about the moon?"

"The moon?! You can't be a-serious!"

Ness smiled back. "Sure I can. You remember how I went to space yesterday, right? The view up there is amazing, and no one could possibly interrupt you, so it's perfect! I bet she'll be 'over the moon' for you!"

Even Mario laughed a little at this. "Haha...that sounds very a-nice, but even if I did want to be with Peach, there are much bigger problems than that..."

The laughter faded and he stopped smiling. "Let's a-face it: Peach is a princess, the future Mushroom Queen, and I'm just a common plumber. Even if she did want me as her king, I doubt all those stuffy nobles would accept it with all their traditions..." Mario sighed, his eyes downcast. He was reminded that what he dreamed of for the future, what drove him to jump over so many Spinies, Bullet Bills, and pits of lava, was just that: a dream.

"Y-you can't just give up like that!" Mario and Ness turned in surprise: the one who spoke up was actually Lucas.

"Mom told me something once...she said the power of love can overcome anything. I don't know if it's true, but it's not fair if some jerks say you can't be together! Even if it's tradition, can't you change it? After all those stories you said about your adventures, you're not just some 'common plumber'...I think you've done more 'noble' things than all those snobs combined!".

Mario was left speechless. He didn't know talking about love could get someone so soft-spoken so riled up. Maybe it was because he literally had the power of "PK Love" powering his attacks. Maybe it was because he didn't like royalty and nobility in general. Or maybe it was because it was advice from his mother. Mario could relate to being a mama's boy, and he had spectated 'that' battle. He was able to put two and two together most of the time despite some claims that he was denser than a Metal Cap. It was actually all three.

"...Maybe you're a-right. Maybe things can change...Even then, I don't a-know if she would feel the same way for me as I do for her...H-hypothetically, of course."

Ness smiled just a little smugly. "Don't worry: your secret's safe with us, Doc. Not like it's much of a secret, though...you don't need psychic powers to see it. Just eyes and a brain..."

Mario sighed. After three tournaments together, this kid really knew how to get on his nerves. Was it that obvious? That was what he would have asked, until right as his mouth opened, someone barged into the room. It was a blonde kid around Ness and Lucas's age who was now hunched over, breathing heavily while holding a red baseball cap in his hands, offering it to Ness.

"You, *gasp*, dropped this..."

Ness put it back on his head. "Thanks, but did you run all the way here..?" He looked tired enough for it.

Link took another breath. "Yeah...the gym lady says running is good exercise..." It was either running or doing those weird yoga poses. He chose the running.

"The gym lady, huh? There's a lot of new people this time around...you think we can handle 'em?" There were at least twenty newcomers for this tournament, which was more than last time. Some of them already seemed pretty strong, too.

"Of course we can! We've got experience on our side, and they don't."

"They might know some tricks we don't, though. Especially that witch lady...did you know she hasn't lost a single match? Palutena hasn't either, but she's a god..."

"Not yet...I'm not gonna lose to her, not again..." The others turned their heads when Lucas finally spoke up again. His tone was more serious than usual...a little angry, even. At himself, not her. He was no sore loser: it was not that he lost, but how he lost that got to him. He had let her words get to him and lost control, then the match because of it, even though she hadn't meant to say something insensitive. So many people knew something that was supposed to be secret because he had broken down, a coward and crybaby like always.

That had to change.

Link put a hand on his shoulder in reassurance. "Then maybe you'll be the first! Back in my world, people thought Ganondorf's dark magic was unstoppable, but I didn't let that stop me. I'm sure you can overcome hers too!" The symbol of courage on the back of his hand glowed a little. It was a reminder that he would never give up, no matter how hopeless the odds seemed. Even though he wasn't as much of a chosen one as the other Links...

Lucas smiled a little. "Thanks..." He could only hope he would do better the next time they fought. Lucas doubted he would win the entire tournament, but he wanted to at least win this one matchup to prove he had changed. This and one other matchup in particular against someone he really didn't like.

Mario, who had been too lost in all his medical data a moment ago, just now noticed Link's arrival. He shook his head disappointment. "Didn't you a-see the sign outside about visiting hours? Mama Mia..."

Ness pouted. "Come on, he came all this way to give back my hat! I promise we'll both be out of here soon, alright? Just let me do one more thing..." While Ness reached into his backpack for something, Lucas and Link raised their eyebrows. They knew what he was thinking next, in one case literally.

He pulled something out and presented it much like Link did when he opened chests. "It's time for a photo!" It was his camera. Just like he had back in space, he wanted to take another group picture. The others knew the drill by now and agreed: Ness had picked up this hobby ever since the second tournament. Besides, it was nice to have a way to keep these memories. Ness stood on the left side of Lucas's medical bed, while Link was on the right and Mario to the left of Ness. With his PSI, he managed to float the camera to a spot where all four of them were in the picture, with Lucas and Ness in the center.

"Now say...'fuzzy pickles'!"

They all smiled for the picture while Ness and Mario also made a peace sign. There was no pranking this time, it was just a nice picture. It was tradition that he would make copies of all these photos at the end of the tournament so the ones who were in them could take them home too instead of just Ness. With that done with, Ness put the camera away and prepared to leave.

"I'd better get going. I've got places to be, battles to win, you know. Link, you were gonna train with all those swordfighters, right?"

Link nodded. There were a lot more swordsmen in this tournament than the last. He was surprised to hear there were six new swordfighters from just one universe, though one of them didn't count as an official fighter. Some thought was too many, but he wasn't going to complain about more sparring partners.

"Then let's head to the castle. Tell Pikachu I said 'get well soon'!"

Lucas nodded, and then Ness started strangely spinning like a top. It was not so strange to those who knew what he was actually doing: building up speed. The move Lucas had just learned required running in a circle to teleport. What Ness was doing was one step beyond that, requiring only rotation for movement. And that was only one step away from instant teleportation, which only the Starmen aliens knew according to Ness...and also Mewtwo. According to Ness, this third version of PK Teleport was something he learned from Poo, who called it "PSI Farewell". However, there was a more official name for it.

[Ness used PK Teleport γ!]

"Bye!"

Just before they teleported, Link realized something: he could have just waited for Ness to warp back and pick up his hat instead of bringing it all the way here to him. The last thing he did before Ness warped the two of them away was facepalm.

_Blink. _Just like that, they left to the castle that was home to some of the fighters from worlds still in the days of swords and sorcery, and the room felt much more empty. Now it was only him and Mario.

There was a bit of silence. They didn't have as much to say now that the others were gone, and it took a little while for Mario to remember what he'd been thinking about before they got so sidetracked about his relationship with Peach among other things.

"I almost forgot why I even a-showed you that memory after all a-this. You kids are good at diversions, that's for sure..."

Lucas scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, Mr. Mario...uh, I mean Doctor Mario!"

Mario shrugged it off. "Don't a-worry about the formalities, they aren't so important. What is important is your and a-Pikachu's health, and why all these strange things with the Final Smashes are a-happening..." He held his chin, taking a moment to think. Looking back on his memory of when Bowser used his Final Smash and became Giga Bowser, he had a few ideas, but it was too early to make any conclusions.

"All I can a-say for sure is that either Master Hand or Crazy Hand is behind this. It would be just like Crazy Hand to give us new powers like this on a whim, and Master Hand always did love his a-secrets..."

"Um...So is what happened to me and Pikachu the same thing that happened to Bowser? Ah..I don't want to go berserk!"

"Don't a-worry, Lucas: I don't think it is the same; neither you nor Pikachu did anything strange. I'm not sure why only Pikachu had any negative side effects, but I think it has something to do with all that a-psychic stuff Ness told me was going on while you were asleep. Whatever you did, it looks like it put your brain in better shape than ever..."

"W-will Pikachu be ok? Samus is gonna be really mad if he's sick..."

Mario looked at the vitals monitors again and gave Lucas a reassuring look. "Pikachu will be fine too, he just needs some rest. It looks like using his Final Smash without a Smash Ball just overexerted his body, especially for the first time. I wouldn't want to be on Samus' bad side, after all..." Mario knew Samus pretty well as one of the original twelve fighters, and his experience told him this: one did not anger "The Hunter", who eliminated her galaxy's deadliest threats on _solo missions_, and get away with it.

Lucas sighed in relief. "Thank goodness..." He didn't like seeing people hurt or sick, especially if it wasn't something his healing powers could cure. He hated feeling helpless.

Mario smiled at hearing Lucas be that worried for Pikachu. "You're a very sweet kid, Lucas. You know, you remind me of my brother Luigi: he's very a-shy, but he's very kind and a lot braver than he thinks he is: he saved me all by himself when I was kidnapped by ghosts, twice! I think you're a-like that too."

"T-thanks, but I'm not that brave..."

"I'm not a-sure about that...but what about you? Do you have a brother too?"

Lucas froze. His breath grew short, and his whole body tensed up. There was a long pause. He didn't know how to answer that: he couldn't say 'no', because he _did _have a brother, he was just...

"...Y-yeah." Lucas averted his eyes. He prayed to the Dark Dragon, or whatever gods there were here instead, that he wouldn't ask anything more. It wasn't granted.

"Well? What's his a-name? What's he like?" Mario looked confused at Lucas's reluctance to say more. Even the normally quiet Luigi could go on and on when someone asked him about his brother. Not that they did so often: nearly everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom who didn't live under a rock knew Mario's name and his exploits. Heck, even some people in space knew about him now! It was Luigi who had an undeserved lack of fame thanks to Mario stealing the spotlight so often...something he regretted.

"Claus. His name's Claus, we're twins, and he w-" Lucas froze up again. "-he _is_ a lot like you. He's always been so brave and outgoing, unlike me..." Lucas looked away again, ashamed.

_He should have been the hero instead..._

The hero role would have fit Claus perfectly. Just like how Luigi followed behind Mario, Lucas imagined if he could have followed behind Claus in his adventure. What if they could have saved the world together with their friends? It would have been so much easier. Claus would have been fine being in the spotlight and getting the attention and praise that was overwhelming for Lucas. Lucas could have been 'number two', able to hide behind his brother just like Luigi did. There would have been no Masked Man to fight. He could have at least pretended to be happy despite everything, because if Claus never went missing, Dad wouldn't have spent all his time searching for him, so he wouldn't have aband-

"Lucas, what's a-wrong?"

He hadn't noticed his eyes watering again. He blinked the tears back, refusing to cry again.

"N-nothing. I'm fine..." Of course he wasn't. He couldn't convince anyone he was either, not with how terrible he was at lying.

Mario didn't know why talking about his brother bothered Lucas so much. He couldn't have: he wasn't one of the few Lucas told everything, and he at least hadn't spilled _that _secret yet. Still, he had a guess which wasn't quite wrong.

"Did something happen with you and Claus? ...Did you get in a fight?"

Lucas didn't respond again. When Mario said that, the psychic boy seemed to be looking _through _him rather than at him...It was unnerving. Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately) Mario could not read minds himself to see just what he was thinking of now.

"I'll a-take that as a yes. I don't a-know what happened between you two, but I do know one thing for sure: brothers always care for each other, no matter what. Even when they don't a-show it. Whatever you did, I'm sure Claus will forgive you if you apologize. Or if he did something, I'm sure you can find it in yourself to forgive him too."

Lucas didn't respond for a little while. This time, he had to wipe his eyes to not cry.

"You r-really think he would forgive me, even after everything I screwed up? I was such a coward...If I hadn't been so afraid, then...then..!"

He was interrupted.

"I don't know what you were afraid of, but you're only _fourteen_! You shouldn't have to protect anyone...that's the job of adults. Whatever you did, or didn't do, it wasn't your fault."

...It was almost exactly what Ness had said, and then what he had told himself earlier. That it hadn't been his fault. Even if his mind knew that was true, he couldn't purge that much guilt overnight. Still...

"Yeah...I know. Thanks, Mr. Mario..."

...it did make him feel better. He got out of his bed. He couldn't stick around here all day, not that he wanted to after all this. However, the words that reassured him also made his thoughts take a darker turn.

_Ness and Mario are right...what happened isn't my fault: it's HIS fault. It's ALL his fault, and I let him get away with it..!  
_

Lucas clenched his fists, and his aura glowed again for a moment.

With that thought, he realized he had something to ask Mario too just before he stepped out the door. It was an answer he'd rather get from Mario himself instead of hearing someone else's opinion like he had earlier.

"...Can I ask you something? It's about Bowser."

"Sure, what about him?" After all this time, he knew the Koopa King very well. You know what they say about keeping your friends a-close and enemies a-closer...

"After everything he's done, why do you go go-karting with him?" His voice was colder than usual.

Mario paused for a moment. It was a frequent question by the fighters from other worlds. He and Bowser didn't exactly have the usual relationship between hero and villain, but Bowser was no ordinary villain.

"You're not the first to ask me about that. How should I a-say this...I think there's some good in everyone, even a-Bowser. Sure, he may kidnap Peach every other month, but he's not the monster some people a-say he is." When Lucas gave him a confused look, Mario went on to list Bowser's good qualities.

"Let's a-start with the basics: Bowser does kidnap Peach all the time, but he would never actually hurt her. Even when he invades the Mushroom Kingdom, he wouldn't go as far as killing innocent people. He's more like a bully who thinks he can get whatever he a-wants if he pushes people around...and even then, he isn't that cruel to his own people. The Koopa Troop looks up to him, and he really cares for his a-kids, even if he isn't very good at showing it. Not only that, whenever something _truly_ evil comes around and threatens to destroy everything, he's even a-teamed up with me and Luigi sometimes! Though one time he didn't know we were helping him since we were inside his body..." When Lucas gave a very confused look, Mario just said "It's a long a-story.".

"Basically, the reason I go racing and playing a-sports with Bowser is because even if we aren't friends, I hope one day that can change. I hope that one day he can put aside all these grudges and make up for what he's done, so we can be friends for real instead of just a-pretending to be. It would be nice, wouldn't it?"

He took a moment to take all that in. Mario's villain was hardly a villain, by Lucas's standards. Honestly, he even thought Mario's wish might come true someday with someone like this, maybe once Bowser was old enough to get tired of the constant fighting. He almost envied the short mustached man who had such a friendly enemy and never lost anyone close to him. Scratch that, there was no 'almost' about it.

His voice lightened up a little. "I hope you're right about Bowser...You're a really good person to give him a chance like that."

"A-thank you so much!"

_But I'm not._

Lucas knew someone who made Bowser look like a _saint_, and if he ever met him face to face again with nothing in between them...he honestly didn't know what he would do, only that it wouldn't be something friendly like racing or playing sports.

...Frankly, he did not want to know. He stepped out the doorway with that thought.

It took a minute for Mario to realize that Claus was an anagram of Lucas. Their parents must have had fun naming them...they were certainly more creative than Mario's own parents who named him after the family name, making him "Mario Mario" while his twin brother was "Luigi Mario", unintentionally putting Luigi even further in his brother's shadow...

Lucas wasn't sure where he would go next, until a sound came from inside the room.

"FREE FOR ALL!"

Lucas stumbled backwards in surprise. A battle couldn't possibly be happening in that room, right? It was a place to recover from injuries, not receive them! He ran back in and peeked his head around the doorway to look.

"ROSALINA AND LUMA! BOWSER JUNIOR!"

No, of course it wasn't. The announcer's voice and the sound of a crowd cheering for each participant came from a TV on one of the screens besides the ones showing vital signs. That let Mario do his job as a doctor while still watching his friend Rosalina's battle. Clever.

"IKE!"

There were many cheers of "We Like Ike!": not surprising since he was the only veteran of the four, and the match was set in a castle where the medieval swordsmen often gathered. He could tell Ness and Link were watching too. Although Ike was the fan favorite in this arena, one other fighter had quickly gained an infamous reputation in general, fittingly announced last by Master Hand.

"BAYONETTA!"

Lucas had his own reasons to watch this match.

"THREE..."

He reached out to Pikachu's mind with his PSI. Even before he awakened them on his adventure, his latent psychic powers had always let him talk to and understand animals.

"TWO..."

_"Ness says 'get well soon!'"_

"ONE..."

It was time to go. This was one match he had to see in person. Thankfully, Mewtwo spamming his teleportation technique while fighting inside Lucas's mind had rubbed off on him a little. That was why he could now do this.

[Lucas tried PK Teleport β!]

"GO!"

* * *

(Author's Note: Just to clear things up, I call Toon Link "Link" in this story since his actual name is Link in game, and it seems weird to have characters refer to him as "Toon Link". If both ever end up in one place, I'll try to provide enough context to avoid confusion on which one is speaking.

This story takes place before the events of Super Mario Odyssey, since for the most part I use the year that games are released to determine when they happen in relation to the Smash tournaments, but there are some exceptions. Like the Metroid series, since those games aren't released in a linear chronological order at all.)


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Spectator Mode

Teleporting across vast distances and warping the fabric of space was not as easy as Mewtwo made it look. It was the psychic equivalent of sprinting if levitating was walking. According to Dr. Andonuts, the 'scientific' explanation of how it worked had something to do with creating wormholes. For Lucas, he had no idea what worms or holes had to do with it. All he knew was that he could only go to places by using his memories of them, and he had plenty of memories of the castle.

It was an archaic, yet sort of cool looking place that many of the temporally-displaced Smashers called home. He remembered the stone walls and towers that rose into the sky, the red square tiles on the roof, and the many flagpoles that bore banners of the many countries the medieval swordsmen and sorcerers hailed from, with the off-center cross cutting through a circle that served as the symbol of the Smash Brothers above all the others. He remembered all the work that went into renovating the place after the Subspace War left it a battle-scarred wreck. He remembered the times Link (the sailor one) tried teaching him how to use a sword instead of just smacking people, not that he'd ever understand how those weird sword beams worked. He remembered how one area of the castle was turned into a battle arena called "Castle Siege", and how in his first match there he received many reminders of how he was 'too slow'. He also remembered enjoying the sight of Sonic slipping on one of Diddy Kong's banana peels and falling off the stage from his own speed while watching from atop one of the castle walls, which had been empty.

Unfortunately, it was no longer empty.

Lucas only had a split second to react as his PK Teleport made him appear right next to his green-capped friend. He shielded his head with his arms, wincing as he was about to crash into him...

"Behind you!"

Someone pulled Link out of the way at the last second. Somehow. The distraction made Lucas trip and skid across the stone tiles...on his face.

"Ow..."

He thought he'd gotten over his tripping habit since the third tournament.

"Are you all right?"

He glanced upwards, wincing from the pain. Someone with an accent similar to Jeff's and blonde hair like his own (minus the cowlick) was offering him a hand as he picked himself off the ground and dusted off his clothes. He took it and stood up, giving him a better look at the people around him. He had nearly hit Link, and the guy who pulled him out of the way looked familiar.

Lucas held the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm ok...but I almost hit you guys! Sorry..." He averted his eyes in embarrassment. He was _really _getting sick of being such a bad teleporter. The fact that some of the newcomers could do it easily only deepened his shame.

Link shook his head. "It's fine. I'm fine, thanks to..." He paused for a moment, turning to the newcomer. "What was your name again?"

"It's Shulk, and the answer is that I saw the future." His eyes glowed bluer than usual for a second.

Link tilted his head in confusion for a moment, making the end of his green hat droop over his left pointy ear.

"Wait...Thanks for the help, but how did you see him com-" He cut himself off in realization, and his jaw dropped.

"Oh."

Ness looked over to Link and nodded to confirm that thought, then returned his curious gaze to the third blonde among them. "Yeah...I fought this guy in space earlier, and I thought he was bluffing about that. Now, I'm not so sure..." Even though Ness had traveled through time before, he had his doubts. That would mean the visions Mario told him Shulk had were true, and that was ridiculous. Ness didn't need his PSI to tell Link had the same thought as him, since he spoke up for once, looking back at Shulk while even more confused.

"I don't understand...if you can predict everything, wouldn't you always win?"

Shulk waved his hand dismissively, as if he'd heard this question far too many times in the past few days. Far too many times..."While the Monado lets me see the future, that doesn't include _all _of it. I'm not a god!" He glanced to the side pensively, as if remembering something.

Ness closed his eyes, lost in thought. Could it be true that this guy could see the future? That meant the predicting and cheesy one liner he used back in their battle was more than just luck. In that case, it was time for some payback.

He put two fingers to his forehead to focus his PSI.

"If you really can do that, try asking me something. Doesn't matter what. You can predict stuff, right? So try figuring out what I'll say before I say it." He grinned with anticipation.

"If you say so. So...what's your favorite-"

"Baseball."

"-sport..." Shulk gasped as his eyes widened. "What? How did you...that's supposed to be my trick!"

_Don't tell me he can see the future too!_

"Nah, I'm not gonna tell you that, because it isn't true."

_What? No, that wasn't seeing the future...he read my thoughts just like the Telethia..!_

"Telethia? What's that? It sounds kinda like 'telepathy'..."

Shulk's expression changed from a dropped jaw to a scowl. Ness had brought back a bad memory. Link adjusted his green cap in confusion, while Lucas sighed. He cast PSI Shield on Shulk to stop the mind reading and put his hands on his hips while frowning at Ness. He looked almost like a disappointed mom scolding her child...

"Come on, stop messing with him..."

"Sorry, sorry...Gosh, I'm not gonna spy on your brain like some creep, I was just teasing!" He pulled his cap down over his face in shame, opening his eyes again. Telepathic PSI was much more effective when there weren't other senses occupying his finite attention span. That didn't mean it was impossible to pay attention to the real world and someone's head, but pushing his PSI too far could give him headaches or even make him pass out. It wasn't a weakness he was eager to tell everyone about. As for everyone, he understood how disturbed they would be by the thought of him reading their minds all the time: Mewtwo did exactly that in the second tournament. Still...

This time, it was totally worth it.

"Are you kids going to watch the battle, or not?" A familiar voice rang out, and all four of them turned their heads abruptly. It was from Reflet, and both her and the other unnaturally white-haired tactician sat nearby, looking down at the battlefield while writing down even more notes in their tomes.

Shulk sighed. He was eighteen years old, hardly a kid unlike the other three. Even they were hardly ordinary children after their..._unique experiences_. Lucas put his hands to the sides of his head in surprise and shame.

"Crap...I'm so sorry I distracted you!"

Ness shook his head again. "First of all, it was an accident. Second, that's gotta be the hundredth time this week...stop apologizing!"

"Oh...sorr-Ah!"

That gave the others a good chuckle as they returned their gaze to free-for-all on the red-tiled rooftop below. The battlefield was already full of cuts, flames, and magical explosions...

* * *

Link, Shulk, and the tacticians had their eyes on Ike, having the most to learn from watching his swordsmanship. Ness and Lucas were watching Bayonetta, which meant they all saw the same thing: the two of them fighting.

Ike was growing tired of the witch's taunts.

"That's quite the big sword you have there."

"..." Ike did not respond, not with words. His only answer was a dashing slash with the aforementioned 'big sword'. It nearly hit its target until she dispersed into a swarm of bats that reformed behind him. Time seemed to slow as he turned around, giving him some time to think. She had turned into an animal: could she be like the laguz of his world? No...they only turned into one animal, so this was something different. Some form of magic he wasn't familiar with, like Meta Knight's warping cape. Then again, it had been uncannily familiar to meet a mysterious masked knight with an item that let him warp. He was reminded of how wrong the foot they got off on was...

Time returned to its normal flow as she fired a hail of purple bullets plus another crude joke with a teasing voice.

"Don't you know what they say about men with big swords?"

The latter slowed him down more than the former. He scoffed, barely feeling the bullets while dashing at speeds that did not match his bulky appearance.

He raised his sword with one hand and closed the distance. Ragnell was indeed big, but with his strength the weight didn't slow him down at all. He shook his head, dismissing any thoughts her inneundos brought up. Then just before he swung it-

"You're no fun..." -a giant fist crashed through a portal in the air. At the last second, he jumped and landed right on top of it. Unfortunately, he could not slow down time by dodging too. What he could do was thrust into the demonic hand and cut upwards, sending out a blue energy wave (or as Meta Knight insisted on calling it, a "Sword Beam") that cut through it and continued towards the summoner...

And hit an unintended target: Bowser Junior. "Oww!" The royal Koopa went flying right into Ike's sword beam before it could reach Bayonetta, knocking Junior and his Clown Car into a nearby platform. A moment before this, Rosalina's red Luma punched him into Ike's attack while he was too distracted by the adults' comments to see it coming. His head hurt more from confusion than being punched or cut: he had no idea what they were talking about...

The sudden interception of his attack caught Ike off guard, so Bayonetta made her move. She pursued him with a flying kick to the chest, then flew up while spinning like a tornado to knock him into the sky. Then another flying kick, and yet another spin. Ike grit his teeth in pain and annoyance as the attacks just kept coming. He would be in trouble if he didn't escape soon...

But he didn't need to.

Something red barreled into the witch and saved Ike's metaphorical bacon, letting him regain his balance and land on his feet. The other mage jumped, no, _floated _over to the first, helping her 'son' by hurling galaxy-shaped magic blasts. He didn't have time or reason to be thankful to his other opponent. This was just the chaotic nature of battle, which he was all too familiar with. Now he had a new opponent: the royal brat, who threw some strange mechanical lizards down to the floor. They walked slowly towards Ike as the windup mechanism on them kept spinning...

"Bwahahaha! How do you like my Mecha-Koopas, tough guy?" His imitation of his father's evil laugh was more cute than intimidating, and the same went for the weird machines. They didn't look like they posed a threat, so Ike simply kicked the closest one away.

"Agh!"

He would have if it hadn't exploded on impact, knocking Ike away and covering his foot in soot. Rolling away from the momentum, he stopped himself by stabbing the ground, leaving another gash in the red tiles. As he looked up, he saw a few things. First was the mages dueling in the sky, the dark mage using her flying kicks and twists to try to carry the other one upwards, with limited success. The red Luma kept interrupting the combos, and she kept floating away to escape.

There was also a cannonball flying right at him.

Sparks flew from Ragnell as invincible metal clanged against so invincible metal. With a swing of the flat of his blade, Ike sent it crashing into a nearby wall.

The same wall the spectators were standing on.

Lucas winced as he instinctively stopped the cannonball midflight with his PSI, causing it to come to an abrupt halt in midair right before it could hit them. At least, that was what he hoped would happen. It turned out there was something called 'conservation of momentum', and making something stop instantly had the same effect as crashing into a wall, making the cannonball explode a few feet away from them. The force of the explosion was stopped, but not the smoke cloud that now obscured their sight...

It made all of them cough as well, and Lucas didn't need his PSI to tell they were frustrated at not being able to see the fight, only hearing the sounds of combat. That was why Link waved his magical baton while the two tacticians fluttered through the pages of their tomes.

[Robin and Reflet cast Elwind!][Link played the Wind's Requiem!]

_WHOOOOSH!_

One of those three spells would have been enough. With all three at once, the air pressure was so excessive that the resulting whirlwind blew away the smoke in an instant...along with a few other things. Lucas' hair blew in the wind, wasting the one second he spent combing it. His hat-wearing friends weren't so lucky. Both reached in vain at the hats that flew right off their heads, causing the two tacticians to glare at each other in blame and unintentionally speak in unison.

"This your faul-!" There was a pause. "Stop doing that!" Yet again, they spoke simultaneously despite trying not to. Ness imagined if this were one of those cartoons he watched back home, there would be lightning going between their heads as they scoffed.

Ness let out a deep sigh, then shook his head and gave them an annoyed pointed finger. "Geez, I thought you guys were the adults here! It's both your faults, ok? You should have just let Link do it instead of trying to one up each other..." The two of them entered an awkward silence, and Ness was even more certain adults were useless. Meanwhile, the smoke cloud dispersed, giving Ness a clear view of the hats that let him float them back onto their proper locations. Almost. He accidentally put Link's hat on his head and vice versa, leading to an awkward exchange of glances before they handed them over. Still, he had to admit the green one was kind of comfy.

Staying as silent as usual, Link noticed the guy with the strange sword being quiet too. Was he too focused on the battle? No...with how his eyes were glowing blue, he was looking at something else. When they finally went back to normal, he blinked a few times looking very confused.

"A vision..! That was a long one, but it doesn't make sense. It all happened so suddenly, as if I missed something..."

Ness shrugged. "What did you expect? Prophecies are _never _specific...isn't that right?" He glanced at Link as he said that, reminded how vague the prophecies were for both of them. Link silently nodded in agreement.

Shulk shook his head. "It's not what you think. My visions aren't vague: I see exactly what happens at a certain point in time, and what I see always comes to pass unless I try to change it. Sometimes, even then..." His eyes were downcast, remembering a few events he wished he could have changed. He shook it off, looking back at the battlefield where Rosalina made gravity swirl to deflect Bayonetta's torrent of gunfire while Bowser's son punched Ike through a stone platform with his silly-looking vehicle's boxing gloves. "The only downside is that I can't control what specific time I see, so sometimes I can't make sense of what my visions mean before it's too late. The future isn't so easy to change..."

"After all I've seen, I have to agree that destiny can be quite stubborn. However..." Robin joined in the conversation while observing Bayonetta kick Rosalina directly at Ike. "Difficult is not the same as impossible. Lucina taught me that much. Hmm...now that I think of it..." He wrote down a few notes on how Rosalina's magic barrier held up better against Ike's slash than Junior's Clown Car did against Bayonetta's giant demonic punch, then glanced at Shulk. "You can see the future, and she went back in time to prevent a terrible one...I think you would make good friends."

His counterpart was quick to join in. "Yes, isn't _friendship _wonderful?" Reflet's smile didn't match the chilling aura that emanated from her as she looked at Shulk. It gave Shulk some goosebumps and made him stop watching how Junior leapt from his damaged Clown Car and pulled out a strange paintbrush, landing not as himself but as a strange blue, watery version of Mario with red eyes.

"Y-yes, I suppose it is..." It was easy to tell the two tacticians were relieved even though they didn't say anything. If there was one thing they could agree on, it was not wanting people to hit on Lucina. Dating someone from another world in an interdimensional tournament was likely to end in tragedy anyways...

The younger spectators tried to ignore this awkward exchange while watching the battle intensify. With the damage the four fighters were dealing, one of them had to go down soon.

"What's that icky paint-like goop?" Lucas pointed to the puddles of what looked like graffiti that the transformed Bowser Jr painted on the floor. It clearly wasn't ordinary paint since Ike was hurt just by standing in it, and some weird red blob..._thing _appeared from it, attempting to jump at the swordsman only to miss and splatter into even more goop.

"You haven't heard? Mario told me he had to clean up a whole island full of it once thanks to this kid impersonating him...he says it's some kind of magic, and only water can get rid of it. It's super gross!" He and Link practically gagged looking at it. It reminded him a little too much of some of the monsters he fought in his journey to beat Giygas like the living pile of goo called "Master Belch".

"Ew..." Lucas could sympathize; he had seen a lot of gross things too. Still, he was more focused on watching the other two fighters...

Rosalina and her Luma were answering a volley of purple gunfire with their own barrage of Star Bits, riddling the stage with 'bullet' holes. Bayonetta went right under most of them with a sliding kick, following up with a kick that knocked her upwards. Ike parried Junior's paintbrush swing with his sword, then knocked away the Mario imposter with a punch, kick, and slash. It was getting easier for him to read the kid's movements now that he was copying the style of Mario who he had fought before.

Now that Ike thought about it, Bowser's son relied a lot on other people's work. That vehicle, the paintbrush, and even shapeshifting into Mario weren't truly his...it was a trait he didn't like seeing in royalty. Insane as Ashnard was, he had a point about how many people gained unearned power just because of their blood. It frustrated him, and those thoughts distracted him enough to get hit by a stray magic blast from Rosalina that Bayonetta dodged. However, as he got up from the ground, he felt something strange...

"H-he can do it too?!" Lucas' mouth was agape as he watched Ike glow in the Final Smash aura. Just how often was this going to happen? The newcomers weren't as shocked since they hadn't been in the third tournament where this never once happened. Ness was looking down at Ike while sitting on the edge of the wall, his legs dangling over the abyss dangerously.

"Why not? If that's how it is now, I sure ain't complaining!" His grin was more excited than curious. It didn't matter why; more Final Smashes were always fun to watch.

And it was.

It started with a wave of fire that knocked Junior into the sky, leaving him at Ike's mercy. Not just any fire either, but the blue flames of Yune, the goddess of chaos, which burned hotter than ever as Ike leapt the enormous height and hit him with slash after slash, each one sending out more flames.

"GREAAAT...AETHEEER!"

Lucas winced a little, feeling sorry for the kid as the penultimate slash left Junior spinning in midair while Ike raised his sword one last time. After a few seconds that felt like forever, Ike finally slashed downwards, sending himself and his unfortunate victim to the floor which erupted in a huge pillar of flame that sent Junior flying up and away, far out of bounds. Master Hand's voice boomed across the arena.

"BOWSER JUNIOR...DEFEATED!"

Unfortunately, the explosion left a giant burning hole in the rooftop, which was fatal to its structural integrity. Cracks spread across what was left, approaching the mages who barely escaped the eruption itself. Then...

_CRASH_

The entire rooftop collapsed, sending the remaining fighters falling down to the ground floor along with a huge shower of debris. Normally, this would be the last they saw of the fight. After all, how would they see a battle inside the castle when they were standing on the nearby walls?

_Snap! _With a snap of his fingers, Master Hand made a holographic display of the battle on the wall which would otherwise be blocking their view. While in other arenas a TV would be used instead, it would be quite out of place in this medieval castle compared to a magic spell. Below it, it showed the names and pictures of each fighter from left to right. There was also a small Smash Bros logo next to each of their faces, except Junior since he was eliminated. It even showed how many KOs each one inflicted and received, which meant a +1 for Ike, -1 for Junior, and 0 for the others.

It also displayed how much money each spectator had bet on each fighter. In this world, there was a currency called "Coins" that the fighters earned based on their performance in battle and could use to buy various luxuries, and one way to spend it was to bet on matches. If the fighter you bet on won, you would get money that had been bet on the losers. Lucas never gambled on it for a few reasons. He didn't feel like profiting off of other people's work, and even if he did he knew it wouldn't work with his luck, and he just had a terrible history with money.

Most bets were on Ike, considering his status as a veteran unlike all the other fighters and how well he did in the third tournament. That meant the one person who bet a hundred Coins on Bayonetta would make five times that much if she won.

It was Wario. Lucas grit his teeth silently and looked back at the battle. He had a terrible history with greedy fat men and their obsession with money, not something he wanted to dwell on.

Bayonetta was standing sideways on the wall's interior, firing at Rosalina who floated around, using the marble statues as cover. Ike struggled to get to his feet, using his sword to stab the ground while clutching his head with his other hand. He looked exhausted.

"What? How did he..." Shulk trailed off in confusion. Unlike the veteran fighters, he hadn't seen this trick of Master Hand's yet. It turned out that controlling light was very easy for him. In fact, everything was easy for him.

Ness shrugged. "I dunno, the same way he does everything else. He's basically a god, so it's easier to say what he _can't _do!"

"So, what can't he do?"

"Take a joke."

"That sounds about right. Gods tend to have terrible senses of humor...I should know."

"Nah, I wouldn't say that. I met a goddess the other day and she was pretty funny!"

"You can't be serious."

"What, you think she's boring too?"

"That's...not what I meant."

They were distracted by the announcer's voice, and the sight of Ike flying through the castle walls and into the blast zone from the red Luma's punch.

"IKE...DEFEATED!"

The two tacticians quickly wrote something down, then shared a brief glance. One had a smug grin while the other hung his head in defeat.

"I thought the Radiant Hero of legend would last longer than that. Gods, I bet a hundred Smash Coins on him for nothing!"

"Your loss. You shouldn't underestimate these new fighters...for all we know, they might have their own legends."

"Is that so? I believe the problem was something else. It was that 'Final Smash' of his...right after he used it, it exhausted him and left him vulnerable."

"You always have to disagree, don't you?"

"Of course I do! You're essentially another me, and it's in a tactician's nature to always doubt himself and make second or third plans. Naga knows I need them with my luck..."

For once, they shared a chuckle instead of a glare.

"Yes. Yes you do."

[Robin and Reflet reached support level B!]

Hearing them talk about Ike made Lucas wonder if he still owed him and the rest of those three swordsmen for their help a long time ago against that monkey-like robot, Galleom. Their attacks had damaged it a lot, but on the other hand that was what made it collapse the roof of the ruins and fall right on top of him and Red, forcing them to finish it off...Then again, it would have taken them out with it using its self-destruct if not for Meta Knight catching them. He still remembered how cautious he had been of the masked blueberry at first thanks to his bad history with masked men.

Lucas sighed. He was getting too caught up in his memories...he finally looked back at the fight, realizing he'd miss the ending if he kept getting distracted.

It was down to the wire now: just Rosalina and Red (the Luma, not the trainer!) against Bayonetta. They looked tired...Red was panting despite having no mouth, and Rosalina's dress had gotten a little dirty from all the debris. Bayonetta on the other hand seemed as good as new as she readied another portal above Rosalina's head.

Rosalina waved her wand, creating three Pull Stars above the portal just as the demonic and high-heeled foot came stomping down. Blue magical beams came from each and grabbed the foot right inches away from her face, then started pulling it back into the portal despite its struggle. A few punches from the angry Luma sent it back to wherever it came from.

But that was just a distraction, one that Bayonetta used to catch Red off guard with a flying kick followed by another tornado-like spin to separate him from Rosalina, followed by a pistol-whip that sent him into the wall with a thud. He tensed up when the damage made Red go _poof _into stardust, until he remembered he would just come back later like Olimar's Pikmin. Thankfully, no one could actually die in this world...

It still put her at a disadvantage, the same kind the climber duo had when separated. He really missed them and their snowball fights (even though they always won)...as he thought that, Rosalina jumped and fired a ring-shaped magic blast that launched Bayonetta further upwards. She threw a galaxy-shaped disc at the witch next, but it sliced a statue behind her in half instead. She had narrowly dodged it again by briefly sprouting butterfly wings to jump out of the way.

"Now this is familiar...I may be a witch, but the last woman to throw galaxies at me was quite the bit-" She suddenly cut herself off, realizing kids like Junior might be watching on TV. "...Never mind. Let's just get to the point." She did a cartwheel to the side to dodge a volley of Star Bits, then closed the distance with a sliding kick that knocked Rosalina up into the air. Before she could retaliate, she followed up with another flying kick, then a barrage of pistol-whips, then another spinning jump. Then another flying kick, another punch, more gunshots...

Lucas was practically tearing his hair out at the sight of Bayonetta's infuriating combos. Not that it made it any better: without her Luma's help and with all the damage she took already, Rosalina just couldn't escape. It was something only Ness noticed. Not the combo, but Lucas's reaction to it. He gave him a nudge on the shoulder.

_"You okay there, bud? I didn't think you'd get_ _so...attach_-_HOLY CRAP!"_

Both of them were in awe of what came next.

An almost blindingly bright light shone from a star Rosalina summoned. It resembled the Power Stars Mario collected, except larger and with rounded points. This was one of the Grand Stars powering the Observatory, and from it came countless star-shaped projectiles that slammed into Bayonetta and the floor below. One after the other, the stars filled the stone floor with holes that flickered with light. In only seconds, the ground started to tremble...

_CRASH_

Once again, another castle floor crumbled, sending the witch and a shower of debris falling below, pursued by the storm of shooting stars. Her Final Smash was not so different from the PK Starstorm, making up for the stars' lack of size and power with their sheer quantity.

Bayonetta was falling to a place that looked like hell, which she knew from experience. The castle basement was full of molten rock and lava, with only a precariously tilting rocky platform between her and the fiery depths. A fitting place for demons and tortured souls, or a final battle. Seeing Rosalina look down at her silently from above with that glare and that rain of stars...it felt almost like facing the wrath of a god. It made Bayonetta smile as she jumped from one piece of falling rock to another, each vaporized by a star the instant she escaped.

"Now this is what I call a climax!"

Ness rolled his eyes, while Lucas barely noticed what she said. The Grand Star kept raining dozens of smaller stars in the direction Rosalina pointed her wand. Again and again, Bayonetta narrowly dodged the stars...until she didn't. She quickly ran out of rocks to stand on and was sent flying into the precariously balanced rocky platform, which was filled with holes as more and more stars rained from above. The platform shook violently until it finally collapsed, sending Bayonetta falling to her doom...

Until everything slowed to a halt.

For a second he thought it was only his mind playing tricks on him, but the Final Smash aura around Bayonetta said otherwise. Her eyes and the air were taking on a purple hue as everything moved at a snail's pace. The stars, the crumbling rock, and even the explosions all moved in slow motion. Only Bayonetta could move normally, effortlessly batting the barrage of stars away with a summoned demonic arm that swung a backhand, making them poof into stardust.

She jumped, easily avoiding the midair stars by gaining butterfly wings again. It only took a few more jumps from flying debris to flying debris before she was right next to Rosalina. He couldn't get a read on her thoughts and feelings at all, and trying gave him an incredible sense of dread...it must have been coming from that _thing_ she was summoning from another of those purple portals.

The demon she summoned from her hair this time was much more menacing than the arms and legs were. It was the head of a large reptillian demon with black scales, hateful red eyes, and above all a huge mouth full of incredibly sharp fangs. It looked almost like a dragon...

Rosalina was helpless to do anything except slowly turn her head as the demon opened its enormous mouth, and Lucas was helpless to do anything but watch.

The demon which then used its giant fangs to bite down on her entire body viciously, wringing its mouth back and forth as it tore into her flesh. Only the rainbow-colored energy of the Final Smash came out, not blood. Lucas's eyes widened slowly, and he missed a breath as the draconic beast kept biting her.

The draconic beast kept biting her.

A memory flashed before his eyes in parallel with what happened in the real world. It was so similar, it felt almost like some sick cosmic joke.

[Rosalina took mortal damage]

He heard it roar, and he saw her 'bleed' the same multicolored light of the Final Smash aura.

Then, in an instant, she disappeared in a flash of light, the same way as someone hitting the blast zone would. Except, she had not hit the blast zone.

The air returned to normal, and time began moving at its normal flow again.

Lucas didn't hear the announcer say 'game' or 'Bayonetta wins'. He didn't hear the audience's cheers or boos, or notice his friends' worried looks. He had tuned it all out.

He stopped holding his breath only when her trophy reappeared with the others in the place where Bayonetta did her victory pose. The tradition of shaking hands after battle only applied to one on one matches, so it didn't happen here. Rosalina's trophy and the other two were automatically revived by a snap of Master Hand's fingers, and at the same time the massive damage dealt to the castle was undone in a flash of light. However, Rosalina collapsed to the floor as soon as she returned to normal, making Lucas gasp. She didn't seem to be conscious.

He jumped off the wall, jumped again with his PSI, and launched himself with PK Thunder to reach the platform, grabbing it with Rope Snake and pulling himself up. He frantically ran to her side as fast as humanly possible. Luckily, the match was no longer being broadcast. He sent a wave of green healing PSI as he stood next to where she had fallen.

[Lucas tried Lifeup Ω!][Lucas tried Healing Ω!]

Again and again, he tried to heal her and wake her up, to no success. For the first few seconds, he continued to panic, until he remembered he was a telepath. He sighed with relief, sensing she was at least alive if not awake.

At the same time, Bowser Jr. had woken up Ike much less gently by flailing his arms at him in anger. Ike quickly woke up and kept him at arm's reach with his hand, making him only swipe at air. Ike didn't feel any pain, only annoyance. With the other hand, he clutched his headband. He had a terrible headache and a bad mood.

"Ugh...what's your problem, kid? You lost. Get over it. I did."

"You! You're the problem! You...you got that glowy aura without breaking the ball thing first! Papa said you have to hit that first, so _that _means...you're a big _cheater_!"

"Really? Then, how exactly do you think I cheated?"

Junior scratched his head. "I...uh...I dunno, but it must have been bad!" He looked around at each of them while growling in annoyance. "Grrr..." Then he saw Lucas and pointed at him angrily.

"And you're an even bigger cheater! If you hadn't showed up, Papa wouldn't have lost against that stupid baseball kid!"

Looking away from Rosalina for once, Lucas wasn't sure what to say. He couldn't deny his intervention made Bowser lose, but that was why the match was canceled and redone...and Bowser lost again anyways. Although that might have been since Ness regained his motivation once Lucas returned, no rules were broken in the second round. He didn't have to say anything, since someone spoke before him.

It was Ike, who crossed his arms and frowned, disappointed at how annoying the kid was.

"I know your father is a sore loser, but didn't your mother at least teach you some manners?"

That was a very poor choice of words.

"My mama..? You mean Mama Peach? Wait...no...Papa said Peach isn't really my mama..." His voice started choking up, and he looked away. "I...I d-don't have a mama..."

They were left in shocked silence. Even without PSI, Lucas could sense the anguish coming from the kid. With it, it was a lot worse. He tried to say something.

"I'm so sorr-"

"_Shut up_! I don't want your stupid pity! Just...just leave me alone!"

He sniffed, wiping his eyes with one hand and painting an "M" symbol on the ground with his magic paintbrush. Before anyone could say anything else, he jumped _into _the strange glowing graffiti, using it to teleport away...somehow. The others kept their distance from the portal, not wanting to get sucked in as well.

Lucas was left in stunned silence.

Ike shook his head while looking at the portal with the same look he had whenever he accidentally left a pegasus knight in an archer's range. Which wasn't often. Sighing, he fished through his pocket for some kind of powder. Warp powder, the tool his former nemesis, the Black Knight, used to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now it was Ike's after taking it from his corpse. A magic circle glowed below him as he used it to warp away.

With Ike gone, Lucas looked back at Bayonetta. He didn't know what to say to her. However, words weren't necessary for her to get the meaning. Any sympathy he had for her before was gone now thanks to what she did. Even if she was trying to win, there was no need to make it so painful...or to do it like _that _of all the possible ways.

The unusually tall woman glanced at him, then at Rosalina, then back at him. 'Mercy' wasn't a word she was very familiar with when it came to battle: she had a habit for disposing of the angelic hordes that came after her soul every other day in equally creative and painful ways. Still...even though he couldn't get a read on her, he saw some kind of realization in those eyes. Evidently she had seen something in his too as she said something quiet enough that the audience fortunately didn't hear.

"_Oh_. Sorry about that, little boy. I didn't know you were adopted."

He tried to answer, but no words came out of his mouth. Probably because his jaw was somewhere near the floor. Just before he could respond beyond a stutter in disbelief, she had already summoned another of those purple portals and stepped through it to who knows where, winking just before she left.

The arena wasn't anywhere close to silent with all the cheers mixed with boos for the witch's victory among the audience, which helped drown out anything anyone was saying in particular. The only exception was a laugh he could hear in the distance, elsewhere in the spectating areas from where his friends had been watching from. It made him clench his fists enough that his knuckles went white; he'd never forget that sound...

"WAHAHAHAHA! I'll be rolling in Coins now!"

He didn't want to hear it a second longer.

This strange mixture of emotions was overwhelming. The anger at the witch and the fat man, the fear for Rosalina, the sadness for Junior, and now the pressure of being seen by all the spectators in the castle...it was all too much. The fact he could sense their emotions only made it worse. Many of them had probably overheard what Junior said and then connected a few dots based on what they were feeling while staring at him now.

Pity. So much pity.

[Lucas tried PK Teleport β!]

Like always, he ran away from the attention, running in a circle to accelerate and then teleport himself and the unconscious Rosalina, who he managed to carry with some PSI-enhanced strength despite her considerable height, far away from this place.

* * *

Ness couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment when he looked at the data displayed on that holographic screen. It wasn't that he had anything against Bayonetta. Wario, on the other hand...saying he didn't like seeing him earn all that money was putting it lightly. Being turned into a statue wasn't the best first impression, and the effect it had on Lucas only made things worse. That wasn't counting how much he reminded him and Lucas of certain other people either. However much Wario irritated him, he knew it was even more personal for Lucas thanks to his unfortunate history.

He sighed, pulling down his cap over his head. Sometimes he honestly wondered if there was some malevolent god out to make his friend's life a living hell...

Luckily there was some conversation to take his mind off of that. It was from Shulk, whose eyes lit up as he realized something.

"Now I understand...the reason why everything happened so quickly in vision was because_ time itself_ was compressed! Incredible..."

Ness made a half-smile. "So it's not just the accent, huh?"

"What? I'm a seer, not a mind reader..."

"Like Jeff, I mean. You act like him too, cause you're such a nerd."

"...I'll take that as a compliment."

Meanwhile, Robin was looking at the arena, then back at his book curiously.

"I can't believe even a _child_ knows Warp magic...Ricken doesn't count, he's older than he loo-AGH!"

Robin got a book to the face for that comment, which he managed to catch right after it hit him while opened, making him look like he took the word 'bookworm' a bit too literally.

"_That's _your first thought?! Don't you care for that poor boy at all? Just look at him!" A furious Reflet pointed back at the arena. Of course, no one was there anymore.

Robin's voice was muffled due to being stuck in the book. "Ugh...that's not what I meant...oh, speaking of Warp, here's the page for it!" He removed the book from his face to read what his counterpart wrote on the spell more clearly, then tossed it back to her and picked up a staff strapped to his back with his other hand. "Thanks for throwing the book at me, by the way. Now I remember how to use this spell..."

Reflet's eyes widened as she caught her book. "No...you wouldn't...don't you _da_-AHH!" She was cut off as a magic circle glowed below her.

"Checkmate." With a smile, he sent her off on her (not so) merry way.

[Robin cast Warp!]

This resulted in a shocked face, then a smile and a tip of the hat in respect from Ness.

"Nice. You got her _good_!"

"Yes. I suppose I did." He chuckled a little as he looked off into the distance. It was certainly satisfying to prank his alternate self, although that could come back to bite him later. "...I should leave before she returns. Even Grima has no fury like a scorned woman..."

A magic circle glowed beneath him again as he prepared to cast Warp on himself.

"Wait! Before you go, who's this 'Grima' dude? The name sounds kind of creepy..."

"It _should_. How do I say this briefly..." He took a moment to think, fluttering his tome's pages, showing Ness a few with a sketch of Grima and his Risen hordes.

"To summarize, Grima was a Fell Dragon that ruined the future of my world by possessing my future self and infesting the land with the Risen in his attempt to destroy humanity. Lucina went back in time to change fate, but he chased her into the past. In the end, we managed to slay him despite all the hurdles fate threw at us."

"Wait...an evil guy went to the past to stop a good guy from changing a bad future? That's straight outta Terminator!"

"Terminator?"

"Right, you don't know...it's a movie from my world about something similar, but with robots instead of dragons and zombies. It's really cool, and the sequel was even better!"

"...'Movie'?"

"Oh my gosh, you guys are so freaking _backwards_! Don't make me explain all this stuff again..!" He was already having flashbacks of how painful it was trying to explain modern technology to each successive wave of medieval fighters, and insisting that it wasn't magic. Sadly, they didn't believe him since he didn't fully understand its inner workings, unlike Jeff. Oh, the misery of educating the temporally displaced...

"Backwards? Please, we aren't barbarians like the Ferox!" He chuckled, only meaning it in jest. He didn't think any less of the Ferox. They simply had different ways, preferring to solve their disputes with tournaments and punches instead of debates and words.

"Ferox? Who are they?"

"_Now _who's the ignorant one?"

"Crap, you got me there…"

Robin didn't seem to be paying attention to his response, though. He had started looking around somewhat nervously, checking to make sure his counterpart hadn't returned yet.

"I had better leave soon, but before I go, let me ask something. It's hard for me to believe this, but I hear you're a _veteran _in this tournament?" He raised an eyebrow, unsure whether to believe what people had told him. It was hard enough to believe someone so young fought in this tournament for the 'greatest fighters in the multiverse' at all, let alone multiple times (which meant he was even younger the previous three times).

"Yup. One of the originals, too." Ness smiled proudly and maybe a little too smugly. There had been a time when the constant disbelief about his status annoyed him, until he realized how satisfying it was to prove them wrong in the field of battle later.

Robin's eyes narrowed as he tried to read Ness's expression. For as long as (the very limited time) that he could remember, he had a skill of noticing the smallest details to determine people's capabilities in battle at a glance, and since the era of relative peace after Grima's defeat he had turned to using it for less violent causes. That wasn't the face of a liar, as ridiculous as it seemed.

"If you actually _have_ been around that long, then maybe you have an idea what that giant glove's real motive is."

"Real motive? Oh…I see what you're getting at."

"Yes…frankly, this tournament's rules make no sense. If all he wanted was to find which of us was the strongest, a normal tournament bracket would only take a day or two at most. I should know; I've been to a tournament in Ferox and it lasted under an hour! Instead, he has this elaborate point system where we are scored based on every minute detail of our performance, he allows so many types of matches besides one on one, he allows items and stages that can make matches completely unbalanced, and there are even non-combative challenges such as that 'Target Test'..." He paused for a moment, scratching his head in confusion over just how complicated this tournament was.

"I simply can't understand why he would make this tournament so...strange. I'm hoping you might know better after experiencing it yourself."

"Sorry, wish I could help you there, but I've had no luck. Maybe he does all this for fun, or maybe for glory? Even I can't see what's in his head…probably because he doesn't have one." Ness winked.

Robin resisted the urge to facepalm.

"That's a shame..."

[Robin cast Warp!]

Shulk sighed, making Ness tilt his head in curiosity, but not enough for his hat to fall off of course.

"What's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just...I can't believe so many people can teleport."

Ness gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, neither can I! I kind of miss when I was special...You know, on TV, it's only the bad guys who get to warp around! At least that proves this isn't all just a dream, doesn't it?"

Shulk shook his head.

"No...I don't think I could imagine a place like this, not even in a dream." There were wizards, psychics, talking hands, a baby puffball, a masked blueberry knight, and so much more that he wouldn't believe if he hadn't seen with his own eyes. If he had been creative enough to imagine something so bizarre, he would have tried making video games or something.

Ness shrugged. "Eh, you'll get used to it. I know I did. Then again, I hear my world is weirder than most, so I might've had it easy..." He looked back to Link, who was looking towards the nearest entrance to the castle. "Oh right, you guys have somewhere to be, don't you?"

Shulk nodded. "Yes, I came here to spar with the other swordsmen, at least until everyone decided to watch this match instead...Now that it's over, I hope some of them are still interested." He looked at Link, who nodded in response. That was one, at least.

"Mind if I join in? I know I'm not one of you swordfighters, but..." He got out his baseball bat and gestured to it. "This is close enough, right? Right?"

He paused for a second. While Marth, the organizer of the training session, _did _say only swordfighters were invited, he figured Ness could be included if that giant lump of metal Cloud carried qualified as a sword. "Uh...sure." He noticed but quickly ignored a faint sense of hypocrisy considering his own sword was also far from normal.

And so, they made their way inside the castle. Still, Ness couldn't help his thoughts drifting back to other stuff...

He needed some exercise to clear his head.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: History Lesson

He was very grateful Ness taught him how to teleport like this a little while after that Subspace catastrophe: it was the ultimate power for an introvert like him, one he had used time and time again to escape from the terror of crowds and being put on the spot. It let him escape to somewhere he had just been...

The hospital. He burst out of a blue portal in the air and left skid marks across the floor, which fortunately was not flammable. Mario jumped from surprise so high that he nearly bonked his head against the ceiling.

"Mama Mia! You nearly a-gave me a heart attack!"

"S-sorry..." He would have rubbed the back of his head sheepishly if he wasn't busy carrying Rosalina, who still wouldn't wake up. Carefully, he put her down on one of the available beds, which was a little difficult since she was so tall. Mario raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Wait, what a-happened to Rosalina?"

"I don't know...she just passed out when she got revived...is she ok?"

"Relax, I'm sure she'll be a-fine! Just let me check..." He quickly looked at some of the screens that showed him medical data from whatever strange technology was scanning her. Lucas never bothered to ask how it worked as long as it did. "See? There's nothing to a-worry about; all her vital signs are stable. If anything, they're a little too stable!" He chuckled at that, managing to lighten the mood. "Hmm...since she used a Final Smash without a Smash Ball too, she must have pushed herself too far like Pikachu...she just needs some rest, that's all."

"Are you sure..?"

Mario sighed, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't a-worry so much. You should know already that all of us Smashers are under Master Hand's protection while we're in this world, and he was powerful enough to bring us all here across a-space and even a-time! The Links can say a lot about that...It would take a god to do more than turn us into statues, and one with a very big G!"

"Yeah, I know...Thanks."

There was nothing more he could do to help here. Looking back at Rosalina, he could wait around until she eventually woke up, but that would one, break the visiting rules, and two, just watching her unconscious like that only reminded him why that was the case and who was responsible. Sighing, he shook his head, realizing just how _long _this day had been in the span of a little over an hour.

He desperately needed a break.

[Lucas tried PK Teleport β!]

* * *

Once again he jumped through the fabric of space and slid across the ground...

The Observatory's ground.

It would be a lie to say he was alone here with all the Lumas floating around, but he didn't feel much pressure from the cute little stars compared to the audience and the looming threat of being mocked and judged by them. Still, he could tell they were bound to bombard him with questions before long. It was out of the frying pan and into the...less hot frying pan.

Why was he here instead of somewhere with no people? There was the fact that it was in space, which had an amazing view. Then there was the fact there was still a dome in here that he hadn't explored, and they were usually empty, so he wouldn't have to deal with people...assuming he could get there. He wondered if he could sneak around without getting caught, like Mr. Snake...Unfortunately the secret agent was no longer here to ask for tips, and he had no cardboard boxes to hide in. That left only one other option.

Lucas ran as quickly as he could to the nearest beam...elevator_...thing,_ ignoring all the comments and surprised looks sent his way.

A yellow one pointed. "It's that human kid again!"

A blue one waved. "You did great against that scary cat, until you both stood there doing nothing...That was _soooo_ weird!"

A pink one pouted. "You're no fair: Mama gives you aaaaall the attention now! And I thought she said she doesn't _have _favori-hey, stop ignoring me!"

The old one tried greeting him, then shook his head..which was mostly his entire body. "Youngsters these days, they don't have any patience..."

The beam carried him to the area of metal platforms circling the central spire above the observatory's reactor. There was a dome on the other side of this circle that led to the Engine Room. That wasn't the one he was looking for since he didn't exactly like machines. Instead, he looked up to the small, pink-colored platform even further up, close to the top of the observatory. Up there was another of those Dome rooms, one he still hadn't visited. He could kill two birds with one stone (not that he would ever kill birds!) and escape the attention while also exploring the new place.

[Lucas tried PK Thunder!]

He jumped, jumped again and did a backflip with his PSI, and finally guided the sphere of lightning towards his feet to launch himself like a missile. Even though it was admittedly the element he was worst at using, it still got his hand onto that ledge. Barely. After pulling himself up onto the platform and almost slipping, he looked down for a moment to enjoy the view. The observatory's design was almost as beautiful as the view of the stars and the planet below, which meant more now that he knew Rosalina built it herself (the observatory, not the planet!). From up here, he wouldn't even know what time of day it was if he hadn't experienced the sweat-inducing sunlight of high noon a few minutes ago.

He cut his stargazing short, seeing one of the Lumas floating up towards him, waving her stubby little arms angrily.

"Hey, new kid! I said stop igno-"

Just before they could say anything, he quickly ran into the dome.

"-dang it..."

* * *

The room looked nothing like he expected, but not in a bad way. If he was seeing this right, this one was _much _bigger on the inside! He found himself in a circle of rocks in a wide grassy field that stretched as far as he could see, with a Pull Star floating above the ground in the center. There was even a sky above him with some white fluffy clouds. He couldn't believe how vast this garden seemed to be for something inside that small dome. Just what was this place..? Whatever it was, it was beautiful.

"Trust me, this place isn't as big as it looks."

Lucas gasped, hearing a voice he didn't expect. It came from a blonde woman stepping out from behind one of those rocks in the circle, wearing a familiar pink dress.

"Peach? W-what are you doing here? And what do you mean?"

She must have noticed him staring. Then again, he shouldn't have been surprised Peach would be into gardening with all the turnips she threw around in battle. She was holding one right now, actually.

"I could ask you the same thing. As for that…"

Peach threw the turnip across the flowery field and beyond the circle of rocks. It stopped in midair, bouncing off of seemingly nothing before falling to the ground.

"See?"

An invisible wall? No…she had said it wasn't as big as it looks. It could only mean everything past it wasn't there at all. The clouds and the fields outside the circle were just illusions projected on the curved walls of this dome. Still, they looked so real…

"Wow…"

"So, what brought you here? For me, it was all of these flowers. Aren't they lovely?" She gestured with her gloved hand to the small clusters of flowers scattered across the dome. Some were blue, some were purple, some were white, and a few were yellow.

"Yeah…" For a moment, he stared and forgot the rest of what she asked. "S-sorry! I..um…I just came here to take a break. It's been a long day…" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, realizing how messy it was now. But that could wait. Even after only being awake for a few hours, he was mentally exhausted, so he sat down with his back to one of the rocks. She sat down next to him, not wanting to make him bend his neck to look up at her.

"Long day..? It's only the afternoon…oh, you must be tired after that match. Honestly, I don't know what Master Hand was thinking having eight people fight at once! It's almost like a miniature war zone…"

"…You were watching?"

"Yes, I was watching your match from here with Rosalina. She was so proud of you when you won!"

Lucas looked away to hide his reddening face. "I-it was the team that won, not me…I barely did anything, really!" After all, all they would have seen him do after the early part of the battle was standing still for several minutes straight alongside Mewtwo.

"You know, there is such a thing as being _too _modest. Aren't you and Mewtwo psychic? I heard psychics can fight intense battles in their minds, just ones no one else can see! So, what happened?"

"Uh…I'd rather not talk about it..." He didn't want to mention the part where Mewtwo accidentally reawakened his most traumatic memories, or the part where he had to fight his own negative emotions. He _definitely _wasn't going to talk about Mewtwo's memories…He shuddered, remembering Mewtwo's ominous warning not to tell others about his newly remembered childhood. Even though he now knew the world's strongest Pokemon was once a cute little cat, both those traits were long gone, and it would be anything but cute what happened if he angered him.

"That's fine, you don't have to say anything…how about something else?" She pointed to the nearest patch of flowers. "What's your favorite flower? If I had to choose, it would be daisies."

"Sunflowers." He blurted it out without thinking. "They, uh...they look nice, and they're my mom's favorite, too…" His voice trailed off for a little while, and he looked off into the sky. Saying that made his thoughts go back to the match he just spectated.

"Um…is it ok if I ask something personal?"

"Yes, it's all right."

"Well…it's about you and Junior. I met him earlier and he called you his mama, but then he changed his mind and said he doesn't have one…Why'd he say that? You sure don't look related…"

"He started calling me that when we were taking a vacation, but it was only because Bowser told him. I'm certainly not his real mother, as you can see."

"So why'd he lie? If you're not his mom, who is..?"

"His mother was Bowser's wife, Queen Mikame. But she..." She paused for a moment, hesitating. "She passed away in childbirth..."

"That's awful…"

"I know, but I believe that was where everything started. In the past, when I was younger, she helped balance out his rough edges. Ever since then, he's been obsessed with kidnapping me and terrorizing the Mushroom Kingdom…the first attempt he made was just under a year later." She sighed, remembering the countless hours she spent in those dreary castles filled with lava. Knowing what he knew, including what he heard just now along with that story he heard in the previous tournament about how Bowser had tried to force Peach to marry him before during that incident with Count Bleck, Dimentio, and the "Chaos Heart", Lucas could only come to one conclusion.

"Wait…is _that_ why he keeps kidnapping you? That's…that's awful!"

He knew a thing or two about how a father could lose his way after the death of his wife.

"I know, it's terrible…but there's nothing I can do about it. No matter how many times I reject him or how many times he fails, he never changes his ways…"

Lucas had learned more than a few times how stubborn and arrogant Bowser was. He never stopped trying to beat Mario both in and outside of tournament battles, and he wouldn't sincerely apologize for his actions in the Subspace War, insisting it was all Tabuu's fault for tricking him. Still, there was something else he didn't understand after all his experiences with Peach in these tournaments.

"Even if he won't change, why don't you try to stop him? I think you're pretty strong…Ness said you did really well in the second tournament!" Then he looked away with an apologetic expression. "S-sorry, I'm not trying to blame you or anything!"

"No, don't apologize...I understand. I've been kidnapped so many times, I've almost gotten used to it. It's no wonder people think I'm helpless. I wish it were that simple, that I could just fight him like I do here..."

He kept listening intently, waiting to hear what the difference was.

"The problem is, in my world, I'm not a normal person. Sometimes I wish I was, but I'm not: I am a princess, the Mushroom Kingdom's only heir. The Toads wouldn't want me to risk my life, and if I did, they would try to protect me. They aren't trained for war like the Koopa Troop, so if they were to fight seriously..." She winced just at the thought of what would happen.

"Oh…when you put it that way, you're really nice..."

"You're too kind…Still, I wish I could do more to help. I've spent more hours in those dreary castles than I can count, and too many times I haven't been any use at all." She sighed, wondering just how many more times it would be before Bowser finally gave up. Even so, there was one silver lining.

"If there's one thing I can be grateful for, it is that being kidnapped let me meet Mario. Ah, I still remember the first time he saved me so clearly…"

"...You like him, huh?"

"Of course I like Mario, he's done so much for me and the kingdom and-" She stopped for a second, seeing that innocent yet knowing look on his face. "Oh…you mean like _that_? I…wherever did you get such an absurd idea? We're only friends, n-nothing more!"

"…" Lucas didn't say anything. He just kept staring at her with a knowing look, holding back the urge to facepalm. It would be much more absurd to not get such an idea with how those two acted around each other. Even right now he could see her cheeks pink as her dress with embarrassment, her normally polite and composed aura collapsing utterly. Adding the fact that he was an empath, he felt almost insulted.

"Besides, even if I _did_ like him in that way, it simply wouldn't be possible…" She was starting to look very uncomfortable about all this. It was ironic in a way. Usually, she was such a romantic that she was the one trying to get others she thought liked each other together, but now that it was her turn…She was about to open her mouth again when he interrupted her.

"I know...you can't be with him because he's a commoner, right?"

She gasped, since he had taken the words right out of her mouth. It wasn't that he was being rude enough to read her mind...he just remembered what Mario had said very recently.

"Yes, that's one reason...Unfortunately, someone of royal blood like me could never marry a commoner, especially not when I'm the sole heir..." She sighed.

It was times like these that reminded Lucas one of the few things he'd kept from his childhood. Maybe not the innocence. Maybe not that pure happiness. Maybe not that blissful ignorance of what pain, suffering, and true evil were, and just how fast they could rip his family to shreds. But he did still have one thing: the stubborn power of a five year old to ask "Why?" over and over. Or more accurately, the power to question why things had to be the way they were and not accept the unacceptable...it was something most adults grew out of soon enough.

"Well...why? What makes your blood so, uh...royal?"

Peach tilted her head in confusion: this wasn't a question people asked often, since the answer was so obvious.

"...Because I inherited it from my father, the former king, and he from his father, and so on..."

"Former?"

"Former, as in...no longer with us. It's the same with Mother."

"Oh my gosh, I'm _so_ sorr-"

"Don't be, please. I was too young to remember much of my parents in the first place...Honestly, Toadsworth is the closest I've ever had to a father. But it's all right: even if we aren't related, he's always watched over me. Sometimes a little too much...but I can't blame him for being overprotective with how often I get kidnapped."

There was a moment of silence as he mentally kicked himself for not realizing it earlier, considering none of their stories ever mentioned a king or queen being alive. He couldn't help feeling a little jealous; at least she had lost them before she could remember them that well...He shook his head, mentally kicking himself again. It wasn't right to be envious since pain wasn't exactly a competition where only the most miserable person ever was allowed to feel bad. Eventually, he broke the silence and went back to what he was trying to say.

"Anyways, uh...that's not what I meant. I know you're descended from your parents and them from their parents, and that's where they get their royal blood...What I mean is, what made your family so special in the first place?"

"…Just what are you trying to say?"

"How did the _first _king become the king?"

She gasped, putting her hands to her mouth.

"Oh my..! I've never had anyone ask me that before…" She had to pause for a moment, surprised someone would actually question something as basic as that. "Well...You see, it's a tale everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom hears as children, even the Monty Moles who live under rocks! It all began long, long ago…"

Lucas listened intently to as she paused to think, her mind going back to that old story...

"Our kingdom was founded over a thousand years ago. In those days, we were simply called the Toad Tribe. We lacked the modern technology we have now, and in some ways we were quite barbaric! Even so, we were not so primitive that we could not find..._it_."

"Huh..?"

She paused for a moment, then gave an ominous tone to what came next.

"It was a star sleeping deep beneath the earth that our miners dug up. It was not benevolent. It was a frightful star that hid a great evil. The Dark Star. It sought nothing more than to plunge the world into eternal darkness. Fearing that, the Star Spirits above sought to seal it beneath the earth once more…but they did not do so alone. They chose a hero among the tribe to use their Star Rod to vanquish this terrible foe."

She paused for a moment, now having a prideful tone to her voice.

"That hero was my distant ancestor, and his name was Shiitake Toadstool. He was revered by the people throughout the land for being chosen by the stars above and sealing the Dark Star…and _that_ is how he founded the Mushroom Kingdom. That's why my blood is different from Mario's...because it lets me use the power of the stars, just like my ancestor did."

Lucas was left in awe. She certainly was good at storytelling…At any rate, he had learned what he asked for. Apparently, the Mushroom Kingdom's system of monarchy had its origins in 'divine right'. It was nothing like the former monarchy in Lucas's world where "King P" took power through a combination of assassination, propaganda, supernatural powers, technological superiority, and even outright brainwashing. It left him lost in thought, his gaze drifting off into the distance...

"Lucas? Is something wrong?"

He shook his head, remembering what he was trying to say. "No, nothing, I'm fine…That was a nice story. But hold it...where is that star now? Is it still sealed away?"

"Well...no, no it isn't."

"What?!"

"Don't panic, there's nothing to worry about! You see, a few months after the last tournament, one of Cackletta's former minions named Fawful was up to no good, and he was ever so awful! He freed the Dark Star from its seal to use its power for his own wicked goals, but it corrupted him and tried to plunge the world into darkness again. It even made a dark copy of Bowser…"

He waited on the edge of his seat, not that he had one. They were still sitting on the grassy floor, leaning against one of those rocks circling the center of the dome.

"Thankfully, in the end Mario and Luigi were able to stop it. Bowser even used that brutish strength of his for good for once! Although he only helped since he didn't know Mario and Luigi were aiding him from inside his body…"

There was a pause. Then, realization hit Lucas like lightning. Not that he liked that sort of metaphor...

If he were a braver sort, he might have shouted "Objection!" while pointing his finger a little too dramatically, then slammed his hands onto a nonexistent desk. The princess's story combined what he heard earlier told him everything he needed to know...

"Wait...You're saying Mario beat that thing too? And if I'm remembering that story Pit told right, Mario also helped save the Star Spirits and used their power to beat Bowser a long time ago. If all your, uh, _royalness_ comes from your ancestor doing cool stuff and passing down his powers...and I'm guessing the other nobles who think they can marry you say similar stuff about their families..."

He paused for a moment, then this time actually did point his finger dramatically.

"Then there's no reason you can't be together, cause Mario did all the same things your ancestor did and _way more_!"

The princess gasped once more.

"Oh dear..! I never considered thinking of it _that _way! If I could convince the nobles with that argument, then it wouldn't be a problem at all. But doing that would likely be as difficult as proving Mario's innocence in Isle Delfino's corrupt courts...Even if what you say is true, most of them would sooner eat a dozen Poison Mushrooms than have Mario rule over them. Not only is he a commoner, but he's also a foreigner since his parents came from the Metro Kingdom..." Which, contrary to the name, was not a monarchy and had democratically elected representatives like New Donk City's current mayor, Pauline. Or as Peach knew her, Mario's ex-girlfriend.

She sighed, shaking her head in disappointment, then looked off into the illusory clouds longingly.

"Ah…if only I had been born a boy! Then there would be no question about me ruling the kingdom, I would not have to keep rejecting all those suitors who only want my hand so they can become king, and Bowser never would have become so obsessed with kidnapping me…" She paused for a moment, lost in thought of just how much more could have gone differently. Lucas normally wouldn't have heard these thoughts since he wasn't feeling so rude as to spy on them. However…

"Perhaps I would have even fallen in love with Daisy instead of Mario! Ahahahaha..!"

"Um...you just…"

"What? I just what?" There was a pause, then her face went red as she covered it with her hands in embarrassment. "D-did I say that out loud?"

"Y-yeah…"

"Oh my stars!" She grabbed his shoulders, looking at him with pleading eyes. "Please, you mustn't tell anyone, no matter what! Especially not Mario...if you want, I'll buy you toys, or do your chores, or give you a thousand coins, just please keep it a secret!"

He couldn't help but laugh at her reaction.

"It's fine, it's _fine_, you don't have to do anything! I promise I won't tell anyone how you feel about Mario, ok?"

He could sense a huge wave of relief coming from her as she slowly relaxed, letting go of him as her face went back to normal. Then, she did something unexpected.

"Oh, thank you so much!"

She smiled and hugged him in gratitude for everything he said. Normally, he liked hugs, but because of her being about a head taller, it was a little awkward...very awkward for a boy his age.

_P-please let go..!_

Finally, something distracted her enough to let go: someone else barging into the room.

"Hey, you! Let Ryuka-I mean Luke-I mean…whatever his name was, let him go! He's not like us Lumas, he still has to breathe!"

Immediately, Peach let go, face going red as she finally realized the implications and stuttered out a response. "It's not what it-I didn't mean to-Ah! I'm so sorry!" She practically vanished behind the nearest rock in embarrassment, gaining at least some awareness of how dense she could be. It was things like this that made Lucas sure she and Mario were meant for each other...

Lucas wasn't faring much better as he got up and looked away awkwardly, finally catching his breath and looking at who walked-no, floated in.

It was that same red Luma from before, the one unoriginally named "Red" just as Fox was a anthropomorphic fox named Fox, Wolf was an anthropomorphic wolf named Wolf, and Falco was an anthropomorphic falcon named-actually, he wasn't a falcon, he was a pheasant. He took a little pride knowing his own mother was much more creative in naming him and Claus, whose names both meant something and were anagrams...

He frowned; it wasn't that hard to remember. "It's Lucas...my name's Lucas." Still, some people did use the nickname "Luke" sometimes, and Ryuka was sort of also his name...

"Right, whatever...Anyways, I'm supposed to tell you about your next matchup. It's sometime tomorrow evening. This time it's a two on two on that fancy new coliseum arena, and you're up against the librarian girl and that guy with the big sword."

"Um...sorry, but you'll have to be more specific...I'm guessing the girl is Reflet, but _which_ guy with a big sword?" There were at least four as far as he remembered.

"The really evil one!"

Oh. Lucas gulped; Ganondorf was one of the enemies he _least_ wanted to fight. The Gerudo king was known for his ruthlessness, his dark magic, his long and very confusing history, and above all his ability to send people to the spectator stands (or the hospital) in as few as two or three punches.

"Tell me I've at least got a good teammate…"

"What's the matter, scared? Don't be a wimp! Anyway, this time you're teaming up with…"

* * *

Chapter 14.5: Too Many Swordsmen!

"Link! Don't you remember me? I was in the third tournament too!"

"..."

Link stared down his sparring partner with as much intensity as he could muster, which wasn't very much right now. Compared to the other Links, no one seemed to take him seriously, maybe because of his height, or because he was just a little...goofy, despite his occasional attempts to look cool and composed. Like someone out of a cartoon. Of course, he had no idea what a cartoon was until the other kids explained it to him, and he was still convinced it was some kind of illusion magic.

As for the other swordsman, he didn't recognize him at all. Like the many other Miis, he didn't look quite natural, having what looked like a line for a mouth and what looked like stubs for hands, which somehow held a sword that looked ordinary other than the Smash Bros logo on its hilt. Their appearances varied more than when they were Alloys in the previous tournament, with this one having blonde hair and blue eyes like Link himself, but nothing really stood out. He had no idea who this guy was.

"I don't even know who you are."

The swordfighter's eye twitched. Clearly that wasn't what he wanted to hear as he launched himself forwards to attack, unleashing a flurry of blows that Link deflected with his own sword and sometimes his shield. He would have used the shield more if fighting someone with the opposite handed-ness wasn't so awkward. There were advantages to that too, though...bashing the guy in the head with his shield definitely worked in making him recoil away and talk some more.

"Seriously? I was one of the Alloys, remember? The one with the beam sword in your Hundred Man Brawl? My name's Tristan, but we didn't have names back then...My designation was Fighting Polygon 03, or just Mr. Three. You don't even remember that, do you?"

Seeing the lack of recognition on Link's face, he swung his sword, somehow creating a tornado-like projectile in the process, which hit Link and carried him into the sky...sort of.

He performed a spin attack as it hit, dispelling the tornado and sending himself high into the air with the updraft. From up there, he lit the fuse on a bomb and threw it down, and a lightbulb went off in his head when he reached the apex of his jump. He couldn't help laughing when he remembered.

"Oh, now I remember! You're the guy who went down in three hits!"

Right as he said that, the bomb exploded in midair, hit by some kind of chakram the swordfighter threw while frowning at him.

"I've changed since then. Besides, most of the others went down in only one! Why do you think I became a Smasher while they didn't?"

Link gave him another teasing smile. "I don't know, but I do know there was one time DK beat a hundred of you guys just by slapping the ground!"

While saying that, he fired an arrow from the distance that was now between them. It flew past the swordfighter who rolled away, but he didn't count on it hitting in the first place, just giving him a better chance to do a jump att-

"Watch where you're aiming!"

They both stopped, turning around as they heard a familiar voice from the direction the arrow went. It turned out that it actually had reached someone after all.

Marth.

"Sorry, Sir Hero King, I didn't mean to hit...wait, what?!"

Link's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. Somehow, Marth had caught the arrow with his bare hand, the one not holding his sword. Come to think of it, he always had been freakishly good at grabbing things, like that one time he outreached Yoshi's tongue...

"Please stop calling me that..." He dropped the arrow and sighed. He heard noble titles more than enough in his homeland, so his time over here was one of the few breaks he got from that...

"Would you prefer 'Your Highness'?"

Now the only thing his hand held was his face in disappointment. Link couldn't help himself, not until someone coughed to get their attention.

"Ahem...if you don't mind, he and I were having a duel and would like to continue it."

It was Lucina. No surprise she had chosen to fight her own great-great-great...very great ancestor. A few exchanged looks and awkward apologies later, Link and the swordfighter got out of their way as they went back to fighting each other.

Their swords kept clanging against each other, and from what he could tell they used them in almost exactly the same way.

…Almost was the key word.

[CRITICAL!]

A cut that barely touched Lucina sent her flying, leaving her and any newcomers watching shocked at how little sense that made. Somehow, this cut hurt much more than the others.

That was something she couldn't understand as she picked herself up from the ground and charged forwards. Gritting her teeth, Lucina swung the Parallel Falchion at her ancestor once more, leaving a trail of blue light.

They continued to exchange blows once more, and Lucina continued to be at a disadvantage, even though she had the advantage in raw power and they seemed mostly equal in skill. It made no sense...that is, until she noticed something. Marth always kept at a certain distance so he was just barely in range of her, and whenever she happened to get any closer he would either throw her away with his deceptively long reach or back off himself. If she didn't know any better, she would think him insane for staying at such a distance, but the pain said otherwise.

She tried getting closer again and sidestepped to dodge his grab. Then she cut him as he cut her, and this time he was knocked further back. His cuts were now weaker than hers instead of stronger, despite more of the blade connecting. Her eyes narrowed in confusion at the inexplicable change, until she saw something different in their blades besides the hilts.

It was the divine light that radiated off of them each time they clashed. The tip of Marth's Falchion glowed like a little sun whenever he swung and especially when he taunted, while her Parallel Falchion was luminescent throughout the blade. Finally, her eyes widened in realization.

"I understand now...when the stories said you brought peace by the edge of a sword, they meant it literally!" In a sense, it was ironic. She had disguised herself as Marth once, taking up his legendary name to try to give people hope in her doomed future, and now she found his style was actually more graceful than hers...In fact, she was only able to pull off the disguise so well because of Marth being relatively pretty for a man and because of her own not very endowed chest, something she was still a little insecure about. It almost made her laugh. Almost.

Marth chuckled lightly. "Yes, I suppose they did."

For a moment, they took a break from their duel. Right in that moment, while they weren't looking…

"Watch out!"

A voice came from her right, making Lucina turn just in time to see a blue slash-shaped beam heading right at her. She gasped and barely stepped to the side before it carved a long gash through the floor where she had just been. She would have thanked the one who warned her if she wasn't so surprised…Marth, meanwhile, hung his head in defeat, wondering just what he had terrible deed he had done to deserve his duel with his somehow equal in age descendant being interrupted twice in less than two minutes.

He wasn't even looking at her, too busy fighting another blonde-haired man with an absurdly large sword that he carried casually with one hand. Were there eyes in the back of his head..? It seemed like there were, since he jumped away from another swing from that huge sword despite being distracted by talking.

"You're about to ask how I saw that, aren't you?"

"How did you se-what?!" Once again, another shocked face.

Pointing to the sword, Shulk continued. "Thanks to the Monado, I can see the future."

Lucina's eyes narrowed. "Seeing the future..?! That's impossible! The only way you could know the course of fate is if you experienced it and then went back..."

_Just as I did..._

If it was possible to see the future without time travel, it would have saved her so much grief. The best she could manage was going back to the past to prevent the future from ending in disaster, but that didn't change her painful memories. He proved it was possible, at least for him, by saying "Shield!" and switching that glowing symbol floating in the hole in the hilt of his strange-looking sword to an orange one, just in time to shield him from the next slash.

"Buster!"

The symbol changed again, and instead of making a forcefield, it made an energy beam that let Shulk stab from ridiculously far away. The other blonde was shocked by this and knocked back. When he got up from the ground, he tensed up and glared at the now extremely long sword…

This caught the attention of a dark-haired angel who casually sat on a nearby platform, overlooking the others as they fought. He was a loner, as always. At least, that was what it looked like. He was having a conversation no one could see with the voice in his head, the nature goddess who happened to sound like a twelve year old girl.

_That guy doesn't like fighting people with oversized swords, even though he uses one himself…What a hypocrite._

_"It might look like that, but don't jump to conclusions. That ridiculously long sword probably reminds him of Sephiroth._

_So what? What's his problem with this 'Sephiroth' guy?  
_

_"Do you want the short version, or the long version?"_

_Is that even a question? I don't have all day._

_"To sum it up, Sephiroth killed Cloud's friend Aerith, his family, everyone in his hometown except his crush, then tried to blow up the planet with a meteor and become a god! Oh, and he killed his best friend Zack."_

_What? That doesn't make any sense! Why would he do all that crap?_

_"You __said __you wanted the short version…ugh, fine, I'll explain. Sephiroth was always a little unhinged, but what really pushed him off the rails was finding out about his origins. It turns out he was infused with the DNA of Jenova; an alien that went from planet to planet, sucking out their Lifestreams one at a time. Yuck!"_

_Aliens that eat planets? That sounds like the Aurum…_

_"You're not far off. The difference is the Aurum eat it all while Jenova only sucks out the life force. Kind of like drinking from a straw…"_

_Ugh, you're making me thirsty!_

_"Ahahaha! Ah…anyways, that's how Sephiroth got his hatred of humanity and delusions of godhood. Thankfully Cloud and his friends managed to take him down and use the planet's Lifestream to blow up that meteor. That reminds me…"_

_What is it now?_

_"Cloud reminds me of that other human. Let's see...they've both got blonde hair, blue eyes, weird hairdos, magic powers, one or more dead parents, an archenemy who was corrupted by an evil alien and destroyed or ruined their hometown in some way, plus they fought against greedy humans who would have abused the planet's power and then used it for good instead..."_

_Don't tell me you're feeling sympathy now. Watch out, or you might grow a heart._

_"Hey! They're...they're exceptions to the rule, ok? Don't get the wrong idea."_

_"Don't get the wrong idea?" Seriously? Are you the goddess of nature, or the goddess of tsunderes?_

_"Don't make me smite you, __Pittoo__!_ _You do realize I'm the one who lets you fly, right?"_

Dark Pit went silent.

_"That's what I thought. Now be a good angel like Pit and keep fighting for me! He may be an idiot, but at least he's loyal and cu-…I mean clueless!"_

_What was that just now?_

_"N-nothing! I was just saying that he was clueless and loyal! That's why he's trying to learn how to read instead of going here to fight like you wanted!"_

There was a moment of mental silence as he decided whether or not to pretend he didn't hear that. On one hand, he enjoyed messing with her very much, and he didn't have any undying loyalty like his idiot counterpart. On the other hand, he did not look forward to being dropped out of the sky one day by a spiteful goddess.

_You're right about one thing: Pit __is__ clueless, and so is that kid…they're so naïve and trusting, it makes me sick._

She didn't need to say anything in response, simply nodding. At least, she did the closest equivalent there was to that in telepathic speech. He could tell their thoughts were aligned when it came to this. Mostly. The key difference was that he didn't trust Viridi completely, either. He was the opposite of Pit in that way, and almost every other.

…It wasn't normal for two people to be such opposites. He was reminded of how unnatural he truly was, just like that "Mew Two". Until the Mirror of Truth split them, he _was_ Pit, just the repressed sides of his personality that weren't _supposed_ to be dominant. He hated how stupid and loyal Pit was…but were those feelings really 'his'? Or was he being forced to feel that way thanks to being Pit's 'dark si-

"Aaaaahh!"

Apparently, he wasn't allowed to have his existential crisis in peace, since he heard someone screaming. No, two people. He had completely lost track of that duel while listening to Viridi's rant, until now. Looking down at them again, he saw the two blondes with huge swords worthy of crude jokes were no longer there…

"Poyo!"

Kirby had swallowed them whole.

A blue glow overtook the puffball and suddenly, he grew blonde hair that was spikier than Shulk's, but not as much as Cloud's. Not only that, but a miniature version of the Buster Sword appeared in his hands, still oversized for how small he was. However, the hilt was red and had a hole with a symbol in it like the Monado…

_Since when could he copy two people at once?!_

_"You're close, but he's actually __combining__ their powers! He learned how to do it when he was collecting the Crystal Shards to defeat Zero Two."_

_Why doesn't he do it more often?_

_"Don't be too hard on him…Kirby's just a baby for his species, so of course he'll forget things a lot!"_

_'Don't be too hard on him'?! He ate two people alive!_

'Alive' was the key word.

A few seconds later, Meta Knight had something to say to Kirby who apparently wanted to use this new power on him.

"Kirby…please spit them out."

It was strange for Dark Pit to hear a deep, Spanish-sounding voice like that from something so small. The puffball gave a look that would bring even a puppy dog to tears, but it was no match for the masked knight's steely gaze.

"Poyo…"

The puffball reluctantly spat the two swordsmen out as a star, sending them flying…straight into Marth and Lucina. Neither were prepared for this, and in a starry explosion the four swordsmen were left collapsed in a pile, two of them shuddering from the disturbing experience of being in the pocket dimension that was Kirby's 'stomach'.

He almost felt sorry for them. Almost. But he had had enough of watching other people fight. He looked around the arena, searching for a sparring partner. He had been waiting for Pit to show up earlier, but thanks to Viridi he now knew that his counterpart's face would sadly be too stuck in books right now for him to punch. Unfortunately, no one seemed to be available, since they were all already fighting someone else.

Definitely not those two strange-looking swordfighters on the other end of the training area, as they were too busy fighting each other.

They both strangely had white hair and red eyes, wore armor with a mix of white and black coloring, and there was something they didn't wear: shoes. It gave them a more wild look. The differences were that one was a boy while the other was a girl, and the boy's curved sword with gold coloring was clashing against the girl's more traditional greatsword which gave off a dark glow. Just the uniform alone was enough to give them an idea of who their counterpart was and what they had done. They were taking the time to glare at and argue with each other instead of pressing the advantage…He scoffed at how stupid that was.

"They say your name is 'Corrin', that name Garon gave you instead of your birth name, Kamui...that means you sided with Nohr, didn't you?!"

"I had no choice! It was either that or betraying the family who raised me for as long as I can remember!"

The boy, Kamui, and the girl, Corrin, jumped away from each other simultaneously. He had no idea what they were talking about, but whatever it was got them very heated. Perhaps heat wasn't the best word considering what they did next: Somehow, they each made their free hand shapeshift, turning it into some large draconic claw…mouth…_thing_, and fired orbs of water at each other that exploded into a shower of rain. Neither seemed surprised by this, and their hands went back to normal afterwards. Not to mention, their accounts of the past seemed contradictory. It was strange…

Corrin jumped into the air, once again transforming her arm, this time into a sort of spike that extended surprisingly far. Kamui narrowly avoided it, cutting at the limb only to miss as it retracted and reverted to normal. Both charged forwards, about to slash at each other with their light and dark swords when…

"That's enough!"

Someone cut them off, getting in the way and hitting both in the head with the hilt of his sword. Roy stood between them, ensuring they could not attack again as they both recoiled in pain, surprised how much the blunt attack hurt them. It was like being hit by a wyrmslayer…

"If I'm hearing this right, you're saying the two of you were forced to pick between your adoptive or blood family and go to war with the other one? That's horrible!"

"…Yes. We had to choose a side when Nohr invaded Hoshido, and I chose Hoshido, but she comes from another world where I was a girl, and apparently sided with the Nohrian invaders…"

It was Kamui who spoke up first, since unlike his counterpart who was still in pain, he had managed to heal the bump on his head with a staff. Apparently another difference between the two besides their outfits and choices was that he knew healing magic while she used the elements based on the tomes she had.

"I see…I'm sorry you had to make that choice. All I can ask is that you try not to be so quick to judge each other."

This time, they didn't respond, so he continued on. As tragic as their story was, he couldn't help but mention what surprised him so much.

"If you don't mind me asking, how is it that you transform like that? I assume your blood siblings bear the blood of dragons just like I do, but I never thought a partial transformation was possible! Even Mother couldn't do that…" His eyes grew downcast, reminded of how long she had been gone. He could only imagine what his life would be like now if Ninian was still alive.

Corrin shook her head. "I'm sorry, but that's not quite it. Both Nohrian _and_ Hoshidan royalty carry the blood of dragons. That's how they use the Dragon Veins throughout the land. In Nohr, they worship the Dusk Dragon, and in Hoshido the Dawn Dragon. But…none of our blood or adoptive siblings can transform like us, partially or not…"

None of their siblings had their unusual traits like their white hair and red eyes either, not to mention their pointed ears. They both looked very confused, understandably so. Roy himself couldn't transform into a dragon at all, but that was because his mother Ninian was only half dragon while his father Eliwood was human, making him only one quarter. However, if he hadn't been an only child, it would make no sense if his brother or sister could transform while he couldn't. Not only that, but "Dusk" and "Dawn" didn't sound like the type of dragons to control water of all things…

Roy sighed. The conclusion was shocking, but obvious.

"I'm sorry to say this, but I can only think of one explanation for all of this…One of your parents is not who you think they are."

"WHAT?!"

The two of them were left in a shocked silence. Especially Kamui.

Meanwhile, the dark angel kept watching from above.

_This is why I'll never understand humans…what is with them and their family feuds?_

"_Let me tell ya, I've had my fair share! Me and Tracy argue all the time about stuff like who picks the channel on TV, who does what chores, if I should help her with her homework by reading the teacher's mi-wait, don't tell anyone that! __Still, it's never anything serious like this...it's a good thing Lucas isn't here to see them fight, cause he would be _pissed_!"_

_You're not Viridi! Get out of my head!_

_"Sorry, you just looked lonely sitting up there all by yourself...I forgot there's a voice in your head."_

"_That doesn't mean you can waltz into Pittoo's mind and violate his privacy…only _I_ get to do that!"_

_Hypocritical as always, Viridi..._

"_Ok, ok, I'll stop…but first, I've gotta say…"_

_What is it now?_

Somewhere else in the arena, Ness looked around at all those who had come here to train, counting on his fingers. He soon ran out of fingers and put his hands in his pockets, sighing.

"_There's_ way_ too many swordsmen!"_

* * *

(Author's Note: Ho ho ho, as my Christmas gift for all of you, I've finally updated with two chapters at once! Not that it makes up for such a long break, but I can try.

Anyways, I did add a little headcanon to the backstory for Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom, but I tried to add to canon rather than contradict it where I could considering her parents are never really mentioned. I also decided that Male Corrin will be named Kamui, the Japanese default name for the player character, since in this story he chose Hoshido while Female Corrin is from an alternate timeline where she chose Nohr.

Thanks so much and Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to everyone who still reads after all this time!)


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